Escalation
by Aggie Escott
Summary: The team are called to help catch a gang of rapists who dump their victims while they are still alive. Watch out Hotch is all I can say! Please review. thank you.
1. The Start

**Escalation  
**Chapter 1  
The Start

"_**By not coming forward (about **__**rape**__**), you make yourself a victim forever**__**" – Kelly McGillis**_

Only a small percentage of rape victims report the crime. Reid could probably tell you the exact statistics, but it can only be at best a guess.

When men are raped by men, even fewer are brought to the attention of law enforcement. This is understandable, but a pity nonetheless, because had this UnSub been reported sooner, he might never have escalated to murder.

-0-0-0-

The man lay on his back in the muddy ditch. He had been there a good part of the day, almost within touching distance of passing traffic. He was too badly abused to be able to move out of harm's way, and the water under the day's steady drizzle was gradually rising. When he had at first been rolled out of the car into the ditch, he had been able to hear the traffic rushing by, but now his ears were under water. He marvelled to think he could drown in a few inches of water so close to people.

He had shouted himself hoarse since being thrown away like old garbage, but no one had come to his aid. It was unlikely that anyone would be walking next to the road. It was quite a way out of town. So he just lay there waiting to die.

The water was stained pink by the blood that was being washed from his body by the water in the ditch. He guessed that there was a lot of blood. He had endured quite a beating between the rapes.

A lot of things came to his mind as he waited. He went over the past days of captivity, his brutal treatment from the kidnappers, the rapes and the degradation he felt. He was ready to die now. He didn't want his friends to know what had happened to him, he was too ashamed. So when the heavens opened and the rain poured down on his naked body, he was relieved, and hoped the downpour would fill the ditch.

-0-0-0-

'Three deaths so far.' JJ said, handing out the usual array of disturbing pictures. 'It appears that all of them were dumped while still alive, and left to die. Two drowned, and one died after crawling from the dump site and being hit by a car.'

'I see here that the bodies were found shortly after the press release. That could be significant.' Dave said.

'The local cops put that down to coincidence.' Morgan said.

'There is no such thing as coincidence!' Dave growled.

'Not everyone has read your book, Dave.' Hotch said. Turning to JJ, 'I see that the men were dumped naked. Was there any sexual interference?'

'The men had been repeatedly raped by two or more UnSubs.' JJ said. 'They all sustained a lot of damage. It is likely that they were raped by objects as well. They were all beaten, and sustained broken bones.'

'It is unlikely that this gang went straight into kidnapping and murder.' Hotch said 'They would have started out as encounter rapists. Have Garcia check if any men have reported being raped in that area in the last ten years.'

'Very few men report rape.' Prentiss said.

'I know. That is what is going to make this case that much more difficult.' He glanced at his watch. 'Go bags ready, wheels up in fifteen.'

-0-0-0-

'In all three cases', Reid was saying, 'the men weren't reported missing for a few days. They were all due to go on business trips, so they weren't missed at first.'

'That would require intimate knowledge of the victims.' Prentiss said. 'I'll follow that up.'

'Good. Have Morgan help you. Dave and I will go to the crime scenes. Reid and JJ go to the police HQ and set us up a room and start victimology. You might want to talk with the families too.' Hotch said. 'We have thirty minutes before we land. I suggest you try to get some rest.'

Hotch got up and went to the back of the plane and sat back and closed his eyes. He noticed that Dave also separated himself from the others and sat alone.

Hotch went over the facts of the case in his mind as the jet took them closer. There wasn't a great deal yet, and Hotch tried to put it out of his mind. He remembered Kate saying, "Let's not be too quick in deciding what we have and haven't got." He himself often warned against running ahead of the facts. He sighed and rubbed at his face. He needed these thirty minutes. He hadn't been sleeping too well lately.

When the plane touched down he was instantly alert, and he led his team off the jet to the waiting detectives who had brought cars to meet them. Hotch introduced his team to them, and requested that they get started right away.

-0-0-0-

They had no crime scenes as such, just possible snatch sites and body dumps. They went to the body dumps first.

They were all close to the interstate highways, in drainage ditches at the side of the road.

'I don't think murder was their attention.' Dave said. 'You can see where the victims were rolled down the embankment into the ditch. They were likely pushed from a slow moving car as they drove, presumably waiting until there were no cars behind them.'

'Would they not have stopped the car? Then they could have ensured that their victims were dead.'

'A stationary car on this road would have attracted too much attention.' Hotch said. 'This way they could rely on nature to take its course. They probably know the road well, know the quiet times, and where the ditches run close to the road. They travel the road regularly, in their work, or commuting to and from the city. We will be able to tell you more when we have a geographic profile.'

'The first victim almost made it.' Dave said. 'The UnSubs learned this and notice how much steeper the embankment is in the second and third cases. In the state they were in, they didn't have a chance of getting out unaided.'

'Now I would like to see the snatch sites, please.' Hotch said.

'We can't be sure of them, only guess.' the detective said. 'I'll take you there.'

-0-0-0-

Reid set up an evidence board and stuck on it the three pictures of the victims.

Victim no. 1, thirty seven year old John Ellis, snatched between his office door and car seven weeks ago, after working late. He was due to go to a conference that lasted a week, which was why he was reported missing one week later by his wife, hit by the car two days after that. Multiple rapes and beatings. If he hadn't been hit by the car, it was doubtful that he would have lived long. He had suffered extensive blood loss and broken bones.

Victim no. 2, thirty eight year old Chris Hall. He was snatched in a similar way after working late five and a half weeks ago, straight after the previous victim was dumped. He was due to go on a sabbatical that was ten days. It was when he failed to return that he was reported missing by his fiancée the next day. Three days later he was found by a couple whose car had broken down on the highway. It was pure luck that he was ever found. Injuries and abuse similar to the first case.

Victim no. 2, Thirty five year old Norman Harling, also snatched outside his office late at night three weeks ago. His family thought he had gone to stay with friends for a week so they didn't report him missing for another two days after that. His body was found by a man who had been cycling along the highway ten days ago. Silmilar signs of abuse.

'It looks as if they are dumped as soon as there is a press conference reporting the men missing.' Reid said. 'All three men in their mid to late thirties, similar looking, dark hair, clean shaven. They were all going to be away for a few days that gave the Unsubs time with their victims.'

'It's almost as if the press conference made them panic.' Prentiss said, 'But they had another victim lined up ready.'

Morgan said, 'If there had been no press conference, these victims may have had longer. They could still be on the first.'

'Garcia found one reported rape of a man by a man in the area, and going back ten years. There are sure to be more, but not surprisingly, none were reported.'

'And we can't interview him,' Dave added, 'Because he blew his brains out a month after.'

'We have the police report though.' Hotch said. 'Emily, would you run a comparison with the victims we have here, and make a note of any similarities.'

'I'll check out any descriptions too.' she said, and went to the desk she had been assigned and got to work.

'Reid, do you have enough data for a geo-profile?'

'I can make a start.' he said. He crossed to the evidence board where he had previously placed a map.

'I think we are ready to give a preliminary profile.' Hotch said.

The detective called the cops together, and Hotch introduced the team.

'We are looking for a gang of men, the eldest being in his forties, leading a group of younger men about the same age as the victims.' Hotch said. 'One of the gang had intimate knowledge of the victims, so our man would not have stood out in an office environment – a delivery man or sub contractor.'

Reid added, 'The gang members are all local, except the leader, who is an out of towner. He commutes along the interstate, and has intimate knowledge of the road. He drives a car or a van with a side door, so that the victim can be easily thrown from the vehicle. It is more likely to be a car, average family car, but powerful in case a get away is needed.'

'There is a strong sexual element in these crimes.' Emily said. 'You are looking for someone who has a history of sex crimes starting with peeping and stealing underwear, moving onto rape with violence.'

'The violence would have manifested itself throughout the UnSub's life, from childhood – torturing animals, fighting and bullying weaker children.' said Morgan.

'We have checked, and there is only one reported rape of a man in the area going back ten years, unfortunately the victim is now deceased.' Rossi said. 'But there will be others, not reported that you may have heard of. These need to be checked out.'

'That is all we have for you so far. As we build on that, there will be more.' Hotch said. 'Thank you for listening.'

-0-0-0-

Hanna Bridle waited in the arrivals lounge at the airport. Pete had gone to a week long business conference where he hoped to get some good contacts for his budding bespoke manufacturing business. When he wasn't on the first flight she thought nothing of it, except he could have rung her and told her – to save her sitting here all day. But when he wasn't on the next flight either, she started to get worried.

Pete's mate, Kevin Wood was going too. She got out her Blackberry and called him.

'Pete didn't go!' Kev said. 'I was surprised. He was looking forward to the opportunities.'

'What do you mean he didn't go? Of course he went, Kev, otherwise, where has he ....... Oh god.'

She sat down on the bench behind her and the phone fell from her fingers.

In the newspaper vending machine next to her, the headlines screamed, "_Another man found dead. FBI called in."_

-0-0-0-

As the team members each continued with the work they had, JJ was called aside by the detective.

'We have another missing man, disappeared when he was due to fly to Europe for a weeks conference.' he said.

JJ sighed. 'I'll call the others. ' she said.


	2. Connection

**Escalation  
**Chapter 2  
Connections

"_**Disobedience brings its own problems." Howard Bansill**_

'I think I have found a link between the victims.' Reid said. Hotch was looking over his shoulder at the screen on his laptop. 'The trouble is, the last man to go missing, Mr Peter Bridle, does not fit into the pattern.

'It is possible that Bridle is unconnected.' Hotch said. 'What have you found?'

'Well, it's not the victims that are connected, but their place of work. All three companies employ the same cleaning crew.'

'I'll send Rossi and Prentiss to talk to Hanna. Meanwhile, see what names come up if you cross reference them. Get Garcia to help you.'

-0-0-0-

'We don't have any premises yet.' Hanna said. Her eyes were red through crying and she had a tissue in her hand that she was tearing to pieces. 'Pete does all the work in his workshop at the moment. We were hoping.... '

Hanna started to cry again. Prentiss leaned across and took her hand.

'I know this is difficult for you, Mrs Bridle,' she said gently, 'but the more information that you can give us, the more likely we will find your husband.'

Hanna blinked back the tears and looked straight at Emily, gaining strength from her.

'I have a cleaner who comes here twice a week though, if that's any help.' she said.

'It could be.' Rossi said. 'What is her name?'

'It's a man and his name is Curtis. He didn't come this week though. He called to say he was sick. I have an address.'

Dave and Emily rushed back to the BAU with this new information, just as Reid came up with the same name on his cross reference check with Garcia.

'So there's the connection.' Hotch said. 'Let's pay Curtis a visit.'

-0-0-0-

They parked the car at the end of the road where Curtis was reported as living. It was a run down neighbourhood with wheel-less cars propped up on bricks in some of the yards. Some had made an effort to make their homes nicer, and a few sorry looking flowers grew in one or two of the front gardens.

Not in number twenty six though. Prentiss and Reid went to the back of the row of houses, and Morgan skirted around the house. Hotch and Rossi knocked on the front door.

'FBI!' Hotch said. 'Open up.'

There was no sign of movement in the house, and Hotch tried the door. It was not locked, and he pushed it open. Rossi went in after Hotch, and out of the periphery of his vision, he saw something or someone move.

'Freeze!'

There was a man at the end of the hall, standing in the shadows. He made a run for the back door and ran straight into Morgan, who tackled him to the ground.

'Matthew Curtis,' he said, clicking the cuffs on his wrists, 'you are under arrest for kidnapping and murder.'

-0-0-0-

'It is in your best interests to co operate with us.' Morgan said. 'If we find Peter Bridle alive through your co operation, it will look good for you in court.'

'I don't know what you are talking about. Who is Peter Bridle?'

Morgan banged his fist on the table, making Curtis jump. 'Now I know that you are lying!' he said. 'You clean his house twice a week.'

'Oh is that his name?' Curtis said with a smirk. 'The one with the hot wife.'

Morgan wanted to punch his lights out. He left the room to cool off, and joined Hotch and Rossi in the viewing room next door.

'Leave him to think about it for an hour or two, then go back in. Turn the heating down. Let's make him uncomfortable, and see how that affects him.' Hotch said.

The three agents stood and watched Curtis for a few minutes, and then Hotch left and called Garcia, who was checking out the other names on the list of the cleaning crew.

'Curtis is the only name that comes up.' she said. 'But I have the address of the employer.'

'That's good work, Penelope. I'll send Prentiss and see what she can find out about Curtis.' Hotch said. 'Especially time off in the last three months.' He cut the connection and went to talk to Emily

'This is the address of the employer in charge of the cleaning crew.' he said, handing her the address. 'Get over there and see what you can find out about Curtis, especially time off. Take Morgan with you.'

Hotch sat alone at the table, looking at the evidence board. At first glance there didn't seem to be any correlation between the snatch sites and the victim dumps. If they could just see a pattern, they could predict where Bridle would be thrown when they had had enough. There had been no press conference, so they were hoping that the victim was still alive.

As he went over the case in his mind, the leading detective came across with a telephone.

'I think it might be a lead, Agent Hotchner. He asked specifically for you.'

Hotch frowned as he took the phone from him. How did they get his name?

'Hotchner.' he said.

'I have some information, Mr Hotchner, but I will only give it to you. Meet me at the Montford Motel on highway ten in thirty five minutes. Come alone otherwise I won't talk to you.' and the line went dead.

He looked at the handset for a second, and then he called Garcia again.

'I need the address of the Montford Motel, highway ten, as quickly as you can.'

He heard a few taps of the keys, and she said, 'Sending it to your PDA now.

This was too good an opportunity to miss. The informant had said to come alone, but Hotch wasn't stupid. He decided to take Reid, and he could drop him off a short distance from the Motel. He needed the back up.

-0-0-0-

'Did the informant give any clue as to what the information was?' Reid asked, as they got into the SUV.

'Nothing. I am suspicious that it could be a trap, but I can't ignore the possibility that it's genuine. I'll need you to back me up when we get there.'

Reid settled himself into the passengers' seat. 'How far out is the Motel?'

'Garcia said it is fifteen miles along highway ten.' Hotch said. He looked at his wristwatch. 'We have twenty minutes to get there. I am going to have to drive fast.'

The sun was going down as the SUV pulled out of the parking lot and hit the traffic. Highway ten was left at the lights and then right. Hotch took the corner and drove out of town.

Highway ten was a bit of a misnomer. The road skirted the mountains that surrounded the city on three sides, but it was seldom used, and went down to two lanes within a mile of leaving the city limits. Hotch drove south along the road, keeping away from the edge of the road that was built on a precipice. It was dark now, and his headlights picked out the road ahead, winding around the contours of the hill.

'This doesn't feel right.' Hotch said.

'I agree with you. It seems like a strange place to set up a meeting.' Reid said. 'Why so far out of town?'

'Maybe he's scared.' Hotch said doubtfully.

They rounded another corner, and there was a fallen tree blocking the road. Hotch slewed sideways and stopped short of the branches.

'Damn it. Now what?'

Reid was about to get out of the SUV when a van with its lights turned off followed them around the corner.

'It's going to hit us!Get out, Hotch!' Reid shouted, but before Hotch could open his door the van hit the side of their car and bent the door inwards. Hotch was thrown sideways across onto Reid, as he tried to open his door.

Hotch tried to steer the SUV back towards the side of the hill, but the van didn't stop, and inexorably pushed the SUV closer and closer to the drop at the side of the road.

'Reid get out!' Hotch yelled over the sound of crushing metal and the smell of burning rubber.

Reid fought with the handle of the car.

'It won't open!' he shouted.

The car tilted on the edge of the precipice, and for a split second it didn't move. Then the van pushed one more time and the car slid over the side and down the mountain.

The sounds of the car crashing through the short scrub, and the car rolled and came up short against a tree.

Then there was silence, except for the dripping sound of escaped fuel and blood.

Two men stood at the top on the road and looked down.

'That was the easy bit.' one said. 'The hard bit is going to be getting Hotchner out of the car.'

'I'm sure there were two people in the car.' the other said, making a start at climbing down towards the smashed up SUV.

It didn't take them long to reach the car; the furrow that the car had made in the ground made the climb easy.

'There are two men.' one said as he reached the car.

The air bags had deployed, but they were spattered with blood. The second man in the car was sitting awkwardly in his seat, his head bleeding where it had hit the pillar. He wasn't moving. Hotchner was sitting back in the seat, bleeding head on one side, eyes closed

'Get out of the car, Hotchner.' the man said through the smashed window. Hotch opened his eyes slowly as the man reached through the window and unclipped his seat belt.

'You were told to come alone.' he said, removing his gun from his hip.

Hotch looked at him, blood running down his face. 'I need to check on my partner.' he said, not understanding what was going on. 'Call nine one one.' he said. 'I think Reid needs to be cut out.'

'Reid can stay where he is.' the man said, and pulled open Hotch's door. The two men gripped him under the arms and pulled. Hotch screamed as the twisted metal dug deeply into his trapped ankle.

'We are taking you out of the car with or without your foot.' the man said. Hotch was half out of the car, lying on the rocky mountain side, He reached back into the car to try to release his foot. He twisted it side ways, and slick with blood, it slid out of the foot well. The second he was free, the two men pulled him clear of the car, and began to drag him back up the slope.

'Please!' Hotch begged, confused. 'Don't leave Reid there alone. Call for help for him.'

His begging earned him a smack in the mouth. 'You were told to come alone. This is what happens when you are disobedient.'

There was a car waiting at the top on the road. The trunk was open, and Hotch was pushed towards it.

'Get in.' he was ordered. His second gun was strapped around his injured ankle. one of the men reached down to remove it. He kicked the man in the face and tried to get out of the way, but he couldn't stand, and a punch to the face knocked him onto his back. He was lifted off the ground and dropped into the trunk of the car. He fell sideways awkwardly, and the trunk was closed over him.

He lay where he had landed, blood still running down his face from the head wound. He was dazed, unable to think straight.

He heard sounds of the van getting pushed over the edge through the lid of the trunk.

It hurtled down the slope into the remains of the SUV. The van came up against the car, and dislodged it from the tree where it had stopped. The two vehicles slid a further fifty yards, and came to rest against a boulder. Reid was still strapped into the seat, and he wasn't moving. Blood ran from his head wound onto his lap, and he slumped forwards against the blood spattered air bag.

The only sound was of the car driving away.


	3. Separation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 3  
Separation

"_**Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future" Fulton Oursler**_

Hotch lay in the trunk of the car, his own blood becoming a sticky mess in his hair and on the floor. He tried to feel for his cell phone in his pocket; he couldn't remember the UnSubs taking it, but it wasn't there. He must have lost it in the crash.

His left foot was throbbing agonisingly, but he had a feeling that this was nothing compared with what he was up against. If these men were the ones that had abducted and allowed to die three other men, possibly four, then he needed to keep his wits about him.

He shifted in the limited space, trying to find a less painful position. The boot of the car smelled of old blood and body fluids, and he guessed that he was not the first man to be shut in here.

He tried to move round so that he could reach his foot. He knew it was still bleeding; he could feel the growing puddle, and he wanted to bandage it somehow, but it was useless. He had no choice other than to lay still and wait for them to release him.

But release him to what?

-0-0-0-

When the dawn broke the next morning, the sun shone onto Reid's blood smeared face, and he opened his eyes slowly. He tried to remember what had happened. He remembered the tree in the road, and the van pushing the car over the edge of the road, but other than that, nothing.

Hotch had been driving. He tirned his head carefully, but Hotch had gone. Hopefully to get help.

But why not use the cells? Maybe there was no service out here, although they were not that far from town.

The airbag had gone down and he was able to move. He could see his cell phone on the floor. Presumably he had dropped it during the accident, but he couldn't move enough to retrieve it. Hotch'e phone he could see in the foot well. He tried to reach it but it was too far away.

He pushed against his door, and it opened with a metallic creak. His feet were caught in the foot well, and he couldn't get out of the car. He turned in his seat and looked back up the embankment. There was a van crushed against the SUV but he could see beyond that to the road.

Or at least in the direction of the road. There were trees and bushes between the car and the road, and he doubted if the SUV could be seen from up there.

He hoped Hotch would be able to get some help. He looked again into the foot well where Hotch's cell phone lay tantalisingly. There was quite a lot of blood there too, so Hotch had been hurt.

He had a sudden nasty thought that it had been late evening when they had set out for their assignation, and now it was dawn. Surely Hotch had got help by now.

Unless he had collapsed somewhere out there alone and bleeding out!

'Hotch!'

He listened carefully for any answer, but there was none.

Suddenly Hotch's cell phone vibrated and rang on the floor of the car. He tried desperately to reach it. It continued ringing for a minute, then stopped. Then his own rang, but he couldn't get to it.

All around him birds were singing bringing in a fresh new day – a day that bode badly for Reid.

-0-0-0-

'I've tried both cells but there's no reply to either.' Emily said. 'I let them ring until I got voice mail.'

Rossi was pacing. 'Where the hell are they?' he said. 'Something must have happened to them for them to not be answering their cells.'

'They said nothing to me either.' Morgan said. 'It must be connected to the case otherwise they wouldn't have left.'

'So where would they go in the night without telling us?'

'Did anything seem wrong last night, did any body notice?'

Detective Abrams came over to the desk.

'An informant called Agent Hotchner last night. I was just wondering if he got anything useful.'

The three agents stared at him.

'When last night?' Rossi asked.

'At about nine thirty.' he answered. 'I don't know any details of the call except the informant asked for Agent Hotchner by name.'

'So Hotch and Reid went to meet this informant. Do you know where?' Morgan asked.

'Like I said, I don't know any details of the assignation.' Abrams said, getting annoyed. Morgan stood up.

'Two of our agents are missing, and that phone call is our only lead. Now what can you tell us?'

Rossi put his hand gently on Morgan's arm.

'This is getting us no where.' he said sagely. 'Use that energy on Curtis. I'll investigate the phone call. Emily, go with him.'

Emily and Morgan left to talk to Curtis again. Rossi pulled a chair out for Abrams.

'Anything, anything at all.'

Abrams put his head in his hands. 'There was nothing special about it, except that Hotchner was asked for by name. Straight after the call, he called someone else on his cell.'

'I'll get Penelope to pull up Hotch's phone records. This could be the answer we need.'

-0-0-0-

The fumes and smell in the boot of the car was starting to make Hotch feel sick when the car stopped. He felt the car move as the two men got out and opened the lid. The sun was coming up, and Hotch looked around, hoping to recognise where he was.

He realised it had been a few hours he had been in the trunk of the car. Time had been impossible to count shut up in that tiny space. He closed his eyes against the glare of the sun. He moved stiffly to try to get out, but he couldn't. His hands and feet tingled uncomfortably as the blood reached them again.

He felt hands on his wrists, pulling him out of the trunk. They dragged him over the edge and he fell onto the ground with a groan. His muscles screamed as he attempted to stand up. Using the car to pull against, he stood in front of his captors, favouring his right foot. Rope was wrapped tightly around his wrists and he was pulled along into an old house. There didn't appear to be houses close by. Hotch understood why. He stumbled forwards, trying not to put his weight on his left foot. He realised that no one had said anything. He broke the silence.

'Where is this place?'

His answer was a hard yank on the rope and he fell onto his knees in the dirt. His captors didn't wait for him to get up, and he was pulled along the ground and up some steps into what had once been a fine house, now a squalid hovel. Rubbish was strewn over the floor, and the cloying smell of decay was overpowering. Hotch gagged, trying to keep his face away from the filth as he was dragged through it. They came to a door and stopped pulling him, while they unlocked it. He stood on his feet again, taking his weight on his right foot.

The door creaked open to reveal a stone set of stairs going down into a darkened basement. They pulled him forwards and pushed him down the stairs.

-0-0-0-

As the sun moved across the sky, the space in the wrecked car got hotter and hotter. The last few weeks had been wet and drizzly, and Reid wished it still was. He was thirsty and desperately wanted a drink. Hotch still wasn't back with help, and he knew now that he wasn't coming back. Hotch had been right, it was a trap, but why had they taken Hotch? They could have killed them both lying here in the wreck, and made it look like an accident.

Then he remembered, these UnSubs didn't kill. They left people to die, but didn't kill them directly. Reid tried to understand why, but all he could think about was how thirsty he was and how his legs hurt.

Actually they didn't hurt as much as they had done. He realised that they were going numb as the blood couldn't reach them.

He tried to move them but the dash board was clamped across his thighs and he was trapped perfectly. He leaned back in the seat. He was sweating and his hair was soaked with blood and sweat, sticking to his face. He gripped his right thigh and pulled as hard as the pain would allow him. He felt flesh tear and blood run, and he leaned out of the car and threw up.

Ok, that wasn't going to work.

He called out for help, but his throat was so dry he doubted it could be heard up on the road.

He leaned back again and closed his eyes. He passed out in the heat as the sun reached its zenith.

-0-0-0-

Hotch had no way of saving himself as he fell down the steps into the darkness, and he hit his face on the concrete steps. When he was at the bottom, he panted for breath on the cold damp floor. When he felt he could move again, he turned into a sitting position and tried to see where he was.

He blinked as his eyes got used to the darkness, and he looked around.

The cellar had vaulted ceilings as if it had once been for wine storage. There were brick pillars holding up the ceiling, but other than that the place was empty. He got on his hands and knees and crawled to the opposite corner of the room where he could watch the steps and see if anyone came in. He pressed himself against the corner, wondering what was to come next. He thought it was possible he was being held as an exchange for Curtis. If that was so then they were wasting their time. There was never room for negotiation with terrorists, and although these UnSubs were not terrorists in the strict sense of the word, the rule still applied. There was to be no easy way out for him.

Reid. He cursed himself for bringing Reid with him. He didn't know if he was dead or alive. He hadn't seen him move after the crash, and how was anyone to find him? Garcia knew where they were going. He hoped Rossi would ask her. Then at least they would find Reid.

There could be clues in the van too – fingerprints and trace to lead the team to him. He thought that the van had been sent over the edge after the SUV, but he wasn't certain. He had been hurt in the crash and had a concussion at the time – he couldn't be certain of anything.

He heard the door opening, and saw the light of a torch as some men came down the steps towards him.

They didn't speak, they just came over to him and started hitting him. He had taken beatings before, but this was four men onto him, and his hands were tied. He managed to give two of them a good punch, but someone hit him on the side of the head with a club, and he fell to his knees. They beat him unconscious, and kicked him around the floor for a bit, then pulled him up and photographed his unconscious body.

Then they left him to lie in his own dirt.

-0-0-0-

The kid saw his chance at making some money here. A dead bloke in a car wreck. He wouldn't miss his stuff!

Trying not to touch the dead guy – he'd not seen one before, and didn't much like it – he reached into his pocket and took out his wallet.

FBI. The dead guy was a Fed. He didn't have much money on him, but there were two cell phones on the floor of the wreck, and the Fed was carrying some credit cards that he could sell.

And he had a gun! He would get some good money for a gun.

He decided to keep the FBI ID and stick his own face on it. He could scare the crap out of people with that and really have some fun!

He shoved the wallet, ID and cell phones in his pocket and slid back down the embankment, already spending the money in his head.


	4. Degradation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 4  
Degradation

_**A/N warning AH/OMC noncon warning warning**_

"_**Rape does not just destroy the will, it tears apart the very soul." Marvella Briscoe**_

'A courier just brought this in for you, Agent Rossi.' Abrams said, handing Dave an envelope.

Dave opened the envelope carefully and tipped the contents onto the desk.

'Oh my god!' the detective said. 'Is that....?'

Dave carefully slid them back into the envelope. 'Yes it is. Get copies made, and send these to your lab. Is the courier still here?'

Dave was running now to the front of the police station. But of course the courier had gone. Abrams rushed past him to the copier, and slipping gloves on, he removed the photos one at a time and copied them. He handed the copies to Dave.

Dave went back to the evidence board where Emily and Morgan were working on the map.

'We have more evidence.' Dave said, and handed the copies to Morgan.

The pictures were blow ups of Hotch after he had been beaten. Emily put her hand over her mouth. Morgan quietly put the pictures on the board.

'Only Hotch? None of Reid?'

'That's all we were sent.' Dave said.

'What is the point of it though? Just to taunt us?'

'I doubt the unsubs would have done this just to taunt. I think we will be getting more correspondence very soon.

-0-0-0-

Hotch's eyes were swollen and caked with blood. He reached up to them with shakey hands and tried to wipe the blood away. It had congealed and was sticky and thick. He tried again to open them, and managed to open them just enough to realise that there was no light. He could remember there being windows around the top of the walls letting in a little light, so it was night time again, a whole day since he left the precinct. Painfully he crawled to the corner where he had been sitting when the men came and beat him up. He couldn't sit, he had been kicked too many times on the base of his spine, so he lay on his side to think about what he could do.

It didn't take long to realise that there was nothing that he could do. There were at least four of them, and he was still tied at the wrists; they had made sure that it was not possible for him to climb up to the windows or run.

He bit at the rope to try to free himself, but the knots were tight and all his efforts achieved nothing.

He just had to wait. And he didn't have to wait long.

The door swung open and the four men came down the steps.

Again without a word, they descended on him, but this time, they didn't hit him. They dragged him out into the middle of the room and pulled at his clothes. Hotch fought to get them off, but it was a waste of energy.

When they had stripped him, They stuffed his mouth with paper and taped it in place, three of them held him down. They turned him onto his front, and one man held his wrists above his head. Two others held his legs. The fourth one raped him. Hotch wanted to scream, the pain was so bad, but the gag prevented all but a faint whimper as the man entered him and forced himself on the defenceless man. Hotch tautened his muscles in an attempt to prevent the rape, but his vain efforts just made them laugh. Hotch felt the blood well up as the agony intensified. The UnSub held handfuls of his hair as he forced himself into him again and again, until he was spent, and he collapsed onto Hotch's back exhausted.

But things had only just started for Hotch. There were four of them.

By the time the fourth man had finished with him, Hotch was semi conscious, and beyond any kind of fight. They left him naked, cold and bleeding on the floor of the cellar and went back up the steps, arguing over who was to be first next time.

The clotting blood in Hotch's eyes washed away by the tears.

-0-0-0-

'I want every inch of that road searched.' Dave said. Garcia had told him where Hotch had been going. Now they knew where to look. Emily Morgan and Dave took an SUV and drove slowly along Highway Ten to the Montford Motel. Hotch's car wasn't in the parking lot. They went into the reception.

'We are looking for this man.' Dave said, pushing a photo of Hotch across the counter. 'He would have been here last evening. Was he here?'

The man looked at the picture. 'No, I don't recognise him. What car was he driving?'

'It would have been a black SUV.' Morgan said.

'No I'm pretty sure he wasn't here.' the man said. 'I would have remembered an SUV. We don't get many visitors this time of year.'

Dave thanked him and the left the little office.

'So Hotch and Reid didn't make it as far as here. We need to search the road.'

They drove back slowly, checking all the car pull ins along the way, but there was no sign of the SUV.

'Could it have gone off the road?' Emily asked. 'It was good driving conditions, and Hotch is the best driver I know. But there is always a chance.'

'We'll never be able to search the road in the dark.' Dave said. the sky was firey red as the sun went down. 'We'll wait until first light, then get a search under way.'

As Emily Morgan and Dave drove back to the precinct, Dave's cell phone rang. Morgan answered it and put it on speaker.

'We have another letter from the kidnappers.' It was Abrams. 'They want an exchange of prisoners. They want Curtis back and we get your Agent.'

Dave didn't need to think about it. 'We cannot enter into a negotiation with the UnSub.' he said straight away.

Hotch would understand. It wasn't something that could be discussed. It was bureau policy.

Even if it was to cost Hotch his life ....... which it very possibly would.

They drove the rest of the way back in silence. Each knew in their hearts what that had cost for Dave to say that. He and Hotch were close friends.

'It is significant that they only said 'Agent'.' Dave said. 'So thy only have one of our men.'

'So where is Reid?' Morgan frowned.

-0-0-0-

Reid woke up with a raging thirst. The sun had gone down, and it wasn't so hot anymore. His hair was dry now and blood stuck it across his face and neck. He peeled it back with trembling hands. His legs were almost totally numb now, but his back and neck were hurting where he had suffered whip lash in the accident. He was only just starting to feel it because his legs were hurting too bad before. He realised to his dismay that the cell phones had gone, and so had his ID. Someone had been there and not helped him.

He wondered about Hotch. Was he somewhere out there dead? Had he started out to get help, and died? Had he been abducted? It suddenly occurred to him that he could be trapped under the car, having been thrown out in the accident.

'Hotch....' he whispered hoarsely. 'Someone, please....'

-0-0-0-

Hotch was finding breathing to be difficult. He thought his nose could be broken, and his mouth was stuffed with paper. When Hotch could move again, he peeled the tape from his mouth and pulled the paper from between his teeth. It was a relief that he could now breathe. But broken ribs added to the anguish he felt.

He wondered about Reid .... had they found him yet? Was he safe?

He tensed as he heard the door open again.

The four men walked down the steps and crossed towards him. One carried a bottle of water and another a bowl of something. So they were going to feed him? That was something at least.

Hotch moaned softly as they pulled him into a sitting position and began to spoon feed him something. Hotch gagged on it. It had the consistency of porridge, but it was cold and watery and tasted disgusting. One man held his head still by his hair and the other shoved the food into his mouth. Hotch choked and tried to swallow, but he gagged again and threw it up onto the floor. He tried to close his mouth but one of the men forced it open. Hotch kicked out with his feet to try to push his attackers away, but they were strong, and Hotch was weak after the assault, and he could do nothing to stop the men from doing to him whatever they wanted. They didn't stop forcing the food into his mouth though, and Hotch was left coughing and gagging on the floor. They left him the water and went back up the steps and out of the room.

With shaking hands, Hotch picked up the bottle and washed his mouth out, and then he lay back down again, exhausted after the battle. He shivered on the damp concrete floor, and wondered how much more of this he could take.

He was still losing blood, and it was dark against his pale skin. He was lying in blood and mess when they returned. Again they pulled him into the middle of the room and took turns to rape him. He had little strength to resist, and when he did manage to twist onto his back, it earned him a punch in the mouth. He felt his lips split and teeth crack, but he couldn't lie passively as they stripped him of his dignity and manhood. So he fought against it, and was beaten in return. When they had all had their turn they kicked him unconscious, laughing at him, jeering his weakness, and left him eventually in his own mess on the floor.

-0-0-0-

As they walked back into the precinct office, Abrams came over to meet them.

'We have just heard there has been some activity on one of your missing agent's credit cards.' He glanced down at the paper he was holding. 'Spencer Reid. The user is being held by store security.'

Dave took the paper from Abrams. The card had been used to attempt to buy dvd's in a large local store. These men might be accomplished kidnappers and rapists, but they didn't know much about credit cards.

The agents and Abrams went back to the SUV and drove to the store. It was late night opening and the store was crowded with youngsters. In the back office, they were introduced to Ricky Bate who had tried to use the card.

'Where did you get the card, Bate?' Dave said.

'I b-bought it off a kid.' Bate answered, clearly terrified. 'He hangs around at the gym.'

'Come with us.' Morgan said, 'and point him out to us.'

'No can do, I ain't no grass.'

'This card belongs to a missing federal agent.' Morgan said, nose to nose with the boy. 'Unless you want to go down for kidnapping, rape and murder, you had better show us.'

Bate looked really frightened, and nodded mutely. He was cuffed and taken to the gym where he pointed out a boy of about thirteen who was hanging around talking to the older ones.

'He sold me the card.' Bate said.

'There. That wasn't so hard now was it?' Morgan said, and leaving Bate to be processed by Abrams, Morgan went to talk to the boy.

'Where did you get the credit card that you sold to Ricky Bate?'

'I don't know anyone called Ricky Bate.' the youngster answered with a scowl.

'I am arresting you', Morgan said, twisting the kid's arms behind his back, 'for kidnapping and murder. Anything you say......'

'Ok! Ok! I'll tell you. I stole it off a dead guy in a car wreck up off Highway Ten. He was already dead. I didn't kill him!'

A dead guy? Reid?

'Show me.' Morgan said, and pulled the youngster back to the car. He opened the back door and pushed the kid in next to Bate and Abrams.


	5. Humiliation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 5  
Humiliation

"_**Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes." - Buddha**_

_**A/N Warning sexual torture**_

Morgan and Dave took Bate and Abrams back to the precinct and drove once again along Highway Ten

'Where was this car wreck?' Morgan asked.

'It was just after a curve in the road. I figured the car had skidded off the road after the bend...... just here I think!'

Dave stopped the car and Morgan cuffed the kid to the door pillar. 'You are staying here.' he said.

Dave and Morgan went to the edge of the road and looked over the precipice.

'You can't see it from the road, but there's a furrow cut into the ground.' Morgan was already climbing down towards the car. Dave followed him.

'There's blood here.' he remarked, pointing out the blood droplets on the soil.

'There's the car, there's someone in it.'

As they got closer they could see that the car had rolled at least once, and was badly smashed up. Whoever was in the front of the car wasn't moving – he couldn't be dead. Morgan refused to believe it.

He reached the car before Dave. It was Reid in the car passenger seat. He reached through the door and checked Reid's pulse, and to his relief he was alive.

'He has got a pulse!' he shouted to Dave. 'Call the medics and rescue. He's trapped.'

Dave slid down the last ten feet of the embankment, he got out his cell and called nine one one. He ran across to the car where Morgan was talking to Reid.

'Hey wake up, Kid. You're safe now.'

Reid didn't open his eyes, but his head turned slightly towards Morgan's voice.

'Hotch .....' he whispered.

'It's ok, Reid.' Dave said. 'We know where he is. Now open your eyes for me. Let me see your eyes.'

Reid's eyelids fluttered open, and he looked at Dave.

'Water....'

'There's some in the car. I'll get it.' Morgan said. 'I'll bring it down to you.'

Morgan climbed up the embankment easily, and got a bottle from the car. Dave took Reid's hand and tried to assess the damage.

'I can't move..... my feet any..... more.' Reid said softly.

'Help is on its way, Spencer. Here comes your drink.'

Morgan pulled the lid off the bottle and pulled out the sports lid. He tipped a little on Reid's tongue, and he sucked at it gratefully. He tried to take the bottle but Morgan held on to it.

'You can't take too much, Kid. Just a little at a time.' He gently stroked Reid's hair off his face. It was bloody and matted.

He tipped a little more water into Reid's mouth.

'Thank you. Hotch...... ok?'

'We know who has him. We will get him back.' Dave said.

'I'll go up top and wait for the emergency services.' Morgan said, scrambling back up the embankment. Dave kept hold of Reid's hand.

Reid looked at Dave through glazed eyes.

'I thought .... I was going to ... die here.'

'We never stopped looking for you, Reid. I can hear the sirens. You will be out of here soon. Just hold on a little longer.'

'You must .... find Hotch..... please....'

'It's under control, now keep calm, and the medics will get you out of here.'

Reid blinked his soft eyes. 'Tried to get out...... couldn't.'

Dave squeezed his hand. 'They are here now. I am going to step back and let them get to you, ok?'

Reid nodded slightly and let go of Dave's hand. Dave stood back with Morgan.

Straight away the medics began their work. They put a mask across his face and he breathed the oxygen gratefully. Next they gave him pethidine to help with the pain, then they began to release his legs by jacking the dashboard off his thighs. He cried out as the weight was released and blood flowed again into his starved legs. They put a neck brace around his head and neck, and pulled him out onto a spinal board.

They laid him down on the grass and fixed in an IV, then they set about carrying him up the slope to the waiting ambulance.

'There is room for one of you to travel with him in the ambulance. The other will have to follow in the car.'

Dave nodded to Morgan who got into the ambulance after Reid, while Dave turned the car around ready to follow.

Dave hated the questions about Hotch. They had no idea where he was yet, the only communication being that they want Curtis back. But negotiating with them was out of the question.

The ambulance was moving off. Dave started the car and followed.

-0-0-0-

Hotch had been alone for a long time now. Had they grown tired of him? Or did they still have Bridle to play with? Hotch hoped they had just grown tired of him. He turned onto his hands and knees and crawled miserably back to his corner, leaving a smear of thick black blood behind him. He curled onto his side and thought about Reid whom he had left in the car wreck. Reid may be dead, but if he woke and found himself alone, where would he think he had gone? Deserted him? Left him to die?

The team was good. they would find Reid.

He tried to close his eyes but any movement of his facial muscles hurt where he had been repeatedly hit in the face. He raised his forearms and covered his eyes. He didn't know if he would be able to sleep unless he fainted, but he needed somehow to recover from what they had done to him, so that he had any chance of escape.

He coughed and groaned in agony as he bled more onto the floor. There was a lot of blood – too much for him to be able to lose much more and still live.

They would be back, and he was going to have to endure until the team found him.

They would find him. They were a good team.

His team.

-0-0-0-

The ambulance sped through the traffic that parted to let it through, sirens wailing and lights flashing. Reid was going to survive – there was no reason now why he shouldn't, but the question now was would he survive with both legs intact. They had been cut off from blood for several hours, it was whether necrosis had set in, whether the doctors would need to amputate or not.

Reid and Morgan didn't know this yet. It was for the surgeons to decide, but the paramedics had seen this kind of injury enough times to know that speed was of the essence.

Morgan kept hold of Reid's hand as the ambulance sped along. It wasn't far to the hospital, and it backed into the ambulance bay and delivered Reid up to a team of surgeons who had had notice of his arrival.

Morgan followed the gurney into the ER and waited outside the triage room. Dave came into the waiting room at a run.

'Well?' he asked.

'We don't know anything yet.' Morgan answered. 'I think they are worried about his legs. He was trapped for a long time.'

A doctor came out to speak to them. 'We are taking him up to surgery now, to try to save his legs.' he said. 'We will let you know as soon as there is news.'

'We'll be here.' Morgan said.

After the doctor had gone, Dave said, 'I am going to get back to the precinct, Derek. I need to answer this correspondence from the UnSubs. We need Aaron back now.'

'I'll wait here and call you with news.' Morgan said, and Dave went out of the waiting room to get back to his car.

They had Reid, now they needed Hotch.

-0-0-0-

At that moment, Hotch was drinking the water that he had been left. He was concerned that it could be poisoned, but he needed to risk it. He had lost blood and vomited, and he needed to replace the lost fluids. He put the now empty bottle aside and waited for the poison, if there was any, to take effect. Nothing happened, and he thought they wanted him awake for whatever torture they had ready for him.

He was soon to find out. The door at the top of the stairs opened and the four men entered the room again. They wore no masks which was not a good sign. They were going to kill him eventually.

But not yet. Aaron noticed that one of the men were carrying a whip of some kind. So far he had been beaten with fists. Now they had something else in mind. He cringed as he saw they were also carrying a base ball bat and other objects, and he guessed what they were going to do with them.

They pulled him to the centre of the room again. This time they set up a video camera, and before they hit him, they switched it on.

Careful to keep their backs to the camera, the man with the whip started to beat him. Hotch tried to stand and face his attacker, but when he moved he bled, so he curled up in a vain effort to protect himself. He tried too, not to cry out in pain for the camera, but it was impossible not to, as the evil thing tore at his back and cut deep slices in his flesh.

He held his arms around his head and stopped the whip from touching his face, but they saw what he was doing, and one man pulled his arms above his head while another pulled his legs straight. He had no protection at all now, and the ends of the whip curled around his body, hungry for uncut flesh. It sliced into his cheek and chest, and moved down his body to his groin. He shrieked in agony as the whip did its work.

He heard crying, and wondered who it was until he realised it was him. There was laughing too as the psychopath threw the bloody whip to one side , and turned him into a position where they could rape him.

But this time the abuse was different. He screamed for the cameras, unable to prevent it. Blood flowed and spattered in deep red arcs as they did their worst to him.

Aaron couldn't take it any more. He collapsed on the floor as his body gave up the fight and he fainted. One of the men switched off the camera, and they left him lying there, taking their equipment with them.

-0-0-0-

It was hours later that Hotch opened his eyes again. His whole body was racked with pain, and trembled in shock. He tried to move back to his corner, but any movement was not possible. He realised that his eyes were watering, and strange choking sounds were coming from his throat. He refused to let go and cry. He would not let go of that last thread of dignity that he was clinging to.

But he knew eventually that it would be snatched away from him.

He blinked back the tears of anger and pain, and tried again to move. The floor was slick with blood, and it didn't take much to slide back to the wall. He concentrated, and using the worn bricks, he pulled himself onto his knees, and from there, onto his feet. He clung to the wall to help him, but he was determined to meet his abusers face to face next time they came for him.

He thought that next time would be to feed him. He stood leaning against the wall, thick blood running down his legs to the floor. He hoped that after the food would come some water. It did last time, but they didn't seem to be sticking to a time table. They just did to him what they wanted when they felt like it.

The door opened. Aaron turned, still leaning against the wall, ready to face his attackers.

They formed a semi circle around him. One expressed his surprise that the man they had beaten and abused was standing. Noting their surprise, Aaron spoke.

'I will not be broken.' he said, bravely facing off his abusers.

One stepped forward. It was the same man who had beaten him with the whip. He formed a fist and punched Aaron in the solar plexus. He crumpled to his knees, and fell to his side, desperately trying to catch his breath while his nervous system reset.

'Dinner time.'

Hotch turned his head, looked up at the man with a dish of muck that he was going to be force fed with.

Hotch knew he needed the food, but his body rejected it. Holding his head up by the hair, they shovelled the food into his mouth. Once again it set him gagging and choking as they forced the porridge into his mouth and held it shut until he swallowed. He squirmed and fought against it, but they kept on spooning it into his mouth and forcing him to swallow it. Not until the bowl was empty did they stop. Then they let go of his hair and dropped him to the floor.

'Stay down this time.' a voice said, and they left him heaving and vomiting on the floor.


	6. Communication

**Escalation  
**Chapter 6  
Communication

_**A/N Warning AH/OMC noncon**_

"_**Communication – the lifeblood of any relationship." – from a pamphlet on Family Life**_

Dave's cell phone rang. It was Abrams.

'We have had communication from the UnSubs.' he said. 'I think you need to see it as soon as possible.'

Dave closed his phone. 'We need to get back.' he said to Emily and Morgan. 'The UnSubs have made contact again.'

'I'll leave my card at the nurses' station for the doctor to contact us when Reid is out of surgery.' Emily said, quickly leaving the room.

'It's bad, isn't it?' Morgan said as they hurried to the SUV.

Dave nodded grimly. 'I think so, Derek. I think this is bad news.'

-0-0-0-

They sat around the screen and watched the dvd that the UnSub had sent. They watched in horror as Hotch was beaten, raped and force fed. Then at the end a short message.

"We want our man back."

Emily turned her back to the screen as it played through again, unable to watch what was happening to the best man she knew. As they tried to make sense of the torture that they were watching, Abrams came up to them.

'Bridle's body has been found'

Dave sat with his eyes closed trying to think. 'Get the dvd to Garcia.' he said. 'There must be some clues on it to where it was filmed. This could be their first mistake.'

-0-0-0-

Hotch was on his feet again. Even if they beat him down to his knees, he was determined to begin on his feet facing his assailants. He couldn't lean against the wall because of the whipping, and the deep lacerations it had left on his back. So he stood away from the wall waiting for them to come back. He was hungry now as well as thirsty, but even thinking of the stuff they were feeding him made him gag.

They didn't leave him any water the last time they fed him. He hoped they would give him some soon. He was staring to feel the effects of dehydration, and his mouth was burnt by stomach acids. He longed to sleep, to sit down in the corner and drift off, but he could be sure that as soon as he did that, they would be back to hurt him some more.

He guessed now that they knew that the prisoner exchange wasn't going to work, and he wondered how long they were going to keep him alive like this. Apart from the beatings, his life wasn't really in danger unless they got carried away and beat him to death. He didn't think that was their purpose for him though. He thought that the rapes were closer to what they wanted him for, and that could go on indefinitely.

He looked across at the door as it opened again, wondering what they were going to do to him this time.

-0-0-0-

Garcia was crying.

'I can't watch it again, Derek. Please don't ask me to.'

'I know this is difficult, Princess. But anything you can find on the images that will get us a location will go towards stopping this torture.' Morgan said. He put his arm around her and rested his forehead on hers. Garcia was holding his hand. 'I'll stay with you. Try to look at the background, and turn off the sound.'

'I can still hear it, Derek. I think I always will be able to.' she sobbed.

Gently Morgan turned her chair so that she was facing the screen again. Then he pressed play, and he and Garcia watched the dvd again; watched Hotch tortured and raped, but they concentrated on any clues there might be as to where it was taking place. Garcia watched it through a mist of tears.

-0-0-0-

'Get on your knees, scum.'

The four men stood in front of him. They didn't carry weapons this time, so they were either going to beat him with their fists or rape him. Hotch stood his ground, swaying slightly as he faced off his tormentors.

He didn't move. One of the men stepped forwards to hit him, fist already clenched. Hotch swung his hands in a double fist and caught his assailant off guard, sending him to the ground. He knew he had no chance against four men, particularly in the beaten state he was in, but he was not going to simply submit to them. He bent his knees ready to fight whoever came at him.

Two came at him at once, and held his elbows to his side. He struggled in their grip, but it was to no avail, as the man he had hit got up off the floor and punched him hard on the face. Hotch heard rather than felt his nose crunch, and he tasted blood as it poured out of his smashed nose onto his lips. He stared at the man who hit him, even then with a defiant shine to his eyes, which just seemed to enrage the other. He hit him again, jerking his head back, and Hotch felt his knees give way, and he would have fallen if it wasn't for the two men holding him up. Then the two men worked him over, fists to the face and chest, and finally his groin. He bent his knees up in a vain effort to protect himself, but still they didn't let him drop.

One of the men went round to his back and kicked him in the kidneys. Hotch arched his back and cried out as he felt something inside him tear. then the two of them looked at him.

'Now let's see you defy us, you pathetic piece of work.'

With a nod to the other two, Hotch was released, and he crumpled to the floor. He had no chance of resisting as they turned him on his back and bent his legs up. Again they took turns at defiling him, staring into his eyes as they tore into him, his own blood spurting and running over his bruised skin. He didn't scream, but he bit down on his lip to prevent it, and the grinning masque of the rapist looked down into his tear filled eyes, hungry for satisfaction from the helpless man.

The physical pain Hotch was going through was like burning from deep inside him. Every thrust, every tearing force ripped him apart and Hotch felt his mouth fill with blood as his teeth punctured his lip. The rough concrete floor tore into his lacerated back, ripping at the skin.

But the mental anguish and distress was tearing apart his inner strength, pulling away the facade he had built to save his sanity. As one man finished, sated and spent , the next took his place, he tried to kick out at the man as he gripped his leg, but it was feeble and powerless, drawing peals of laughter from his captors.

This man was the man he hit, and in recompense, he ripped into him, clutching his matted dark hair in his hands as leverage. This time Hotch screamed, the pain was so bad, he couldn't prevent it. He closed his eyes to the face looking down at him, and he felt himself weaken. As the man pushed finally, the burning sensation engulfed him, and with an agonised cry, he fainted.

The last two men abused him, but this time he couldn't feel it.

-0-0-0-

Reid fluttered open his eyes and looked around him. It looked as if he was in hospital, but he had no memory of how he got there. He turned his head slowly. His head throbbed with a rhythm that seemed to correspond with his heart beat. He had drips in both wrists, and there was a cage in the bed, holding the covers off his feet. He tried to remember what had happened. He remembered Hotch driving to meet an informant, but the rest was a blank. He looked over to the next bed, expecting to see Hotch there, but of course he wasn't. There was a buzzer on a wire next to his hand. He pressed the buzzer. Someone had to tell him what was going on.

'Where am I? Where's Hotch? What happened?' he blurted out as soon as someone came in the door.

'Well Doctor Reid, just calm down and I will let you know what has happened!'

The nurse sat on the chair next to Reid's bed and began to explain things. How he had been found in a car wreck, and his legs had been trapped, and how he was brought to the hospital where the surgeons had battled to save his legs.

Reid wasn't really listening. As the nurse described the accident, Memories began to flicker through Reid's mind.

'Hotch! Hotch was driving. Where is he?'

'There was no one else in the car with you, Doctor Reid. Your friends found you, and they were waiting for you to come round, but they had to leave.' She paused. Reid could tell that she had some bad news, but was unsure how to say it.

'What has happened?' Reid asked. 'Is it my legs?'

'Your legs are fine. But there was some necrosis in the toes of the right foot, and the surgeon had to remove the front part of your right foot. They will be able to explain more fully what they have done, but rest assured, you will be able to walk, maybe even without a limp.'

Reid didn't say anything for a full minute as if he was trying to come to terms with the bad news. Then he said, 'But where is Hotch?'

-0-0-0-

Hotch was lying on the floor of the wine cellar, trying to breathe. His nose was a mess, and he was breathing through his mouth, thinking of Reid. He could remember clearly his colleague had been trapped in the car, and looked as if he could be dead. But he couldn't believe that. He had to hold on to the assumption that the team had found him and he was recovering somewhere. He clung to that thought.

He was still in the middle of the room. When they had finished with him this time, they had just left him where he was. Carefully he rolled onto his front and dragged himself over to his corner. Somehow the corner gave him a sense of security. He backed up to the wall and curled up on his side, his bound arms around his knees. It was dark outside, but he had lost count of how many days he had been there. He thought three, but he had spent some of the time unconscious, so he couldn't be sure.

The door opened again, and he wondered if he would survive another attack. Usually they gave him time to recover.

But this time they pulled him to his feet and across the room towards the steps. He couldn't walk, and they dragged him through the blood and mess on the floor. When they got to the steps, they pulled him up, cracking his shins on the concrete. To his surprise he was taken outside to a car, and like before, locked in the trunk.

Hotch relished the warmth and comfort of the car trunk. After three or more days lying on rough cold concrete, it felt wonderful. The car began to drive away from the building. Hotch huddled in the corner of the trunk, and closed his eyes.

-0-0-0-

'Derek, I think I recognise the type of building he is in.' Garcia said with a shaky voice. They had sat through the awful dvd as it played three times, and now Garcia was sure. 'It looks like a wine cellar.'

'What, like under a house?' Morgan said.

'A big house, otherwise a storage depot. It is disused now. All the racking is gone. It's old.' she said. 'I'll search for places that it could be. There can't be that many places like that around here. I'll go out ten miles?'

'Yes! Run with it!' Morgan said. 'I'll tell Emily and Dave. You know Baby Doll, this is the first break in the case.'

Garcia managed a weak smile. If it meant getting her boss back, it would have been worth watching the dvd over and over again. But she prayed that she would never have to watch it again.


	7. Recreation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 7  
Recreation

"_**No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a **__**dog**__** makes you rich**__**" – Louis Sabin**_

'I have seven possible, and three likely.' Garcia said, showing the list she had made to Dave. He took the list and glanced through it.

One disused winery, a storage facility owned by the same people, and a big old house called Bodely Lodge, awaiting demolition.

He looked up.

'Good work, Garcia. The winery is the closest. We'll go there first. Then the house, then the store.' he said.

Emily Morgan and Dave ran to the SUV that was parked outside. The first stop was just outside the city. The Winery hadn't been used for a good many years, but it was still standing due to an ongoing insurance wrangle that could not be settled. It was a big ugly building on prime real estate, surrounded by cracked tarmac that had once been a car park for the work force.

Morgan drove slowly around the building. All the doors were heavily padlocked, and had grass and weeds growing right up to them.

'No one's been in here for years.' Morgan said.

'I'd agree with you.' Dave said. 'Stop the car and let's double check. I'd hate to go and leave here if it is where Aaron is being held.'

Morgan parked the car and the three got out. Dave went right around the building, Morgan and Emily went left. They checked every door and window, but apart from a few broken windows that were too small to give access, there was no way in.

Silently they got back into the car.

'Next stop is Bodely Lodge.' Morgan said. He waited as a dark green saloon drove past the gate and he took the SUV left towards the house.

-0-0-0-

The dark green saloon drove on and entered the city. In the trunk, Hotch was breathing the exhaust fumes, and as the car passed the city limits sign, he crawled to the front of the trunk and tried to find a place where he could find fresh air. There was a small space by the rear light fitting, and he tried to breathe air through the gap.

Then he had an idea.

He turned in the small space, and kicked at the light until it dislodged and the light went out. Then he did the same to the other side.

It shouldn't be long now until the vehicle is stopped, and he could get some help.

The cop that noticed the car with no rear lights was from the same precinct as Abrams. He followed the car a couple of blocks, and then turned on his lights and siren. He had just dropped off his partner at home, and technically he was off duty, but this was just a little thing – a warning to get the lights fixed – and then he could go home.

"A good cop is never off duty." his boss always (and I mean always) said.

The car pulled over in a lay by.

'Can I help you officer?' the man driving said.

'Please get out of the car. Your rear lights are out.' he said. 'Let me show you.'

Hotch was breathing heavily with excitement; he would be free in just a few seconds. He had heard the sirens, and now he could hear the voices outside the car. The voices were getting closer. He lay on his back, and with all his strength he kicked at the lid, and screamed for help. He heard the cop tell them to open the trunk immediately, and Hotch held his breath. Then to his horror, he heard a gun shot, and the sound of a body falling.

'No! No! No!' he screamed, kicking at the lid until it dented. The lid opened, and the man punched Hotch in the face. His head rocked back and Hotch passed out. The lid was closed, and the car once again drove off.

-0-0-0-

Morgan pulled up fifty yards from the Lodge in a thicket of trees. The house had once been surrounded by gardens. Al that remained of them now was a litter strewn mess. Dave noticed at once that there had been recent activity there; where the door opened there was an arc of litter free paving.

'This is the place.' Dave said. 'Be ready.'

There was a trail of blood droplets from the door ending in a small pool. Dave examined the pool and the area around it.

There has been a car parked here, and someone has been put into it, judging from these blood patterns.' He looked at his colleagues. 'I think we are too late.'

Side arms at the ready, they crossed the ground to the door. Emily and Morgan stood one side of the door, backs to the wall. Dave took the other side. Emily leaned across and pushed open the door.

Inside the room that had once served as a hall, there was more rubbish. The Lodge had seen its fair share of squatters. There was a malodorous air in the hall – rotting rubbish, and an underlying familiar smell.

The blood trail led to the door to the cellar. Again they took up their positions on either side of the door, and pulled it open.

The smell was overpowering of human waste, tinged with the metallic taste in the air of blood, and lots of it.

Morgan shone his flashlight down the blood spattered steps into the cellar.

'You are right, Rossi. We are too late. But this is the place for certain.'

Dave called the CSU to process the place, then he said,

'These UnSubs are pretty confident.'

'They haven't cleaned up after themselves.' Emily said. 'They must be certain that there are no indications as to where they are now.'

They backed out of the door back into the hall. Morgan stooped down and checked out the blood trail. He dipped his finger in one of the droplets.

'This blood is fresh.' he said. 'They haven't been gone long. Hotch was alive when they moved him.' He stood up. ' We've only just missed them.'

Dave nodded. 'A car passed us at the winery.'

He didn't need to say any more. The other two knew what he was thinking.

-0-0-0-

Hotch woke up as he was dragged out of the trunk of the car. He was disoriented and confused, and he didn't struggle as he was pulled along a pathway to a door into a house.

He could feel the blood running down his legs, and at that moment, he remembered what had been happening. He tried to pull away from the two men pulling him along, but they tightened their grip, digging their fingers into his flesh. He cried out as the pain hit him in sickening waves, and he was dragged through the door, and up a flight of stairs.

The room he was pushed into was a bedroom. It was sumptuously decorated with a large four poster bed in the centre. He noticed to his distress that there were chains attached to the corners of the bed but for the moment at least, he wasn't chained to the bed. Rather he was dragged to the corner of the room where his neck was fitted with a steel band, and he was chained to the wall. The chain was just long enough for him to get onto his hands and knees. He couldn't stand up even if he was able to. There was a box with towels in, such as an animal would sleep in, and he was shoved into the box.

'You stay there until we want you.' one of the men said.

Hotch couldn't keep on his feet, and his knees gave way. He felt the pain of the rapes throughout his body, and he feared that there was a lot of damage. He was still bleeding as he fell to the ground, half in the box, and half out. His legs were bent up and pushed into the box. He considered fighting, but there really wasn't any point. The four of them would simply beat him until he complied with their wishes – that much he had learned.

Two dishes were placed by him, one with water, the other with what looked like dog food. When he had been left alone, his despair was absolute. He tried to pick up the bowl of water, but it was attached to the floor so he had to drink it like an animal. He refused to do it. They were treating him like an animal, until they wanted him, then he would be beaten and abused as they wished. He had been sure that the team would have found him by now. Now he was moved, he feared that they would never find him, and this was to be his life from now on. He felt tears of misery well up in his eyes, and he wrapped his arms around his face to hide them.

-0-0-0-

He was left alone for several hours while he watched the light of the sun move across the wall of the room. He tried to move into a more comfortable position, but each time he moved, the bleeding started up again. So he lay still, waiting for whatever was going to come. As the sun went down on his fifth day of captivity, he found out just what they wanted him for.

The four men came into the room and detached the chain from the wall, and dragged him over to the bed like a dog on a lead. The rope was cut off from his wrists, and he was lifted onto the bed and chained there by his wrists. For about ten seconds, Hotch relished the comfort of the bed, then the abuse began in earnest. The punches to his stomach and abdomen knocked the wind out of him, and as he tried to breathe, he was beaten about the face. He felt teeth loosen and his lip split as he was punched and slapped.

Then he was raped again by the four of them in turn, smashing into him as they took what they needed.

Then they turned him over and began again, as he fought vainly to get them off him, screaming involuntarily as they had their way. Then, sated and happy, they dragged Hotch across the floor, leaving thick blood on the carpet as they pulled him into the corner, back to the box. They re- attached the chain to the wall, where he fell onto his side and fought unconsciousness and exhaustion and pain.

That night, one of the men showed Hotch to a woman, who gleefully kicked him to see if she got a reaction.

'If you want him, Honey, I'll try to arrange things for you.' he grinned. Then smirking at the man lying at his feet, he said that he doubted he would be capable, but she was welcome to try.

'I'll look upon it as a challenge to my womanhood.' she said, poking at him. 'He's better looking than the last one you had here; a good body. Shame his face is all bashed about. He could have been nice.' She pushed him onto his back and leaned with her foot on his stomach. Hotch retched and threw up on the towels he was lying on, and the woman laughed.

'The dog's been sick!' she grinned.

'Do you want to play with him, Hon?' he asked her.

'I'd rather play with you.' she said,

The two of them spent the night in the bed where Aaron had been abused, but they ignored him, much as they would ignore an animal tied up in the corner.

Hotch groaned as he turned onto his hands and knees and crawled to the bowls. He was dehydrated and needed the water. He lowered his head to the bowl and drank it, feeling profound relief as the water moistened his torn lips and cut mouth, but shame and embarrassment overwhelmed him. He was desperately hungry too, but he was also very sick and didn't touch the food. He crawled back to the filthy towels and fell onto his side and fainted with exhaustion and fear.


	8. Solution

**Escalation  
**Chapter 8  
Solution

_The more I see of man, the more I like dogs. ~Mme. de Staël_

Hotch lay on the towels in the box for most of the next day. It was good to be left alone, and he managed to recover a little of his strength. he guessed that he was in desperate need of medical help, and that he was going to die if he didn't receive it, but given time to recover put off the date of his dying, and increased the chances of escape.

When they came to use him that evening however, he was attacked with a frenzy. The chain was detached from the wall, and he was dragged by the neck over to the bed. He tried to get to his feet, but they pulled him over. He pulled back on the chain, and tried to get it out of their hands. In return the men kicked him in the groin and Hotch doubled up, as they kicked the fight out of him. Three men lifted him onto the bed and laid him on his front. His attacker sat astride his hips and pulled the chain around his neck so that his chest was arched off the bed. He tried to scream, but all he could do was choke, and he made thick gagging sounds as he was slowly choked to death.

He passed out quickly, and this is what his attacker wanted – a compliant fairly fresh recipient who would not fight back.

He dropped the chain, and Hotch fell back face down on the bed. He had no knowledge of what this man did to him, but the other three did, and they took turns in raping him. Blood spurted across the room and painted arcs of red on the walls as Hotch was defiled. When they had finished, they sat on the bed and got drunk. They woke up Hotch, and the man groaned in agony. The men laughed at his pain, and forced alcohol down Hotch's throat.

They hadn't finished with him, and the abuse went on into the night, until the four men were exhausted, and dragged the semiconscious Hotchner back to his corner, and chained him back up. Money was exchanged, and the four men went home.

Hotch vomited blood and alcohol onto the floor by his bed, while the sheets were changed on the bed and the walls wiped down. It was a lot of trouble, but then they had paid a lot of money for the night. The owner of the house was delighted that Hotch was still alive, and hoped for another good night of paying customers.

Hotch was dragged out of the room to a bathroom where he was pushed under a cold shower and watched as the blood washed off Hotch's bruised and battered skin. Hotch crouched like an animal in the corner of the shower tray, his thoughts on Reid, wondering if he was dead, and wishing that he himself was.

-0-0-0-

Dave, Morgan and Emily had come back from the Lodge, despondent and upset that they had missed getting Hotch back by just a few minutes. Instead of going back to the police station, they went to the hospital, where Reid was recovering. He was asleep when they got there, but they were allowed to sit in his room and wait for him to wake up. The only drip he was on now was an antibiotic, to keep the amputation area clean and uninfected. After a few minutes, he began to stir, subconsciously knowing that his friends were there.

He opened his eyes and smiled at his visitors.

'How are you feeling?'

'Footloose.' he grinned. 'You found Hotch then?'

'We are still looking, Spencer.' Dave said. 'We came to see how you are.'

'Getting there.' he said, 'But you should be out there finding Hotch.' he paused. 'What aren't you telling me? He's not dead is he?'

'We don't think so.' Dave said. 'We had a lead which we followed up, but we were too late and he had been moved. Someone shot and killed an off duty cop today, and the precinct is in a turmoil. We are on our own here.'

Reid pushed his hands through his hair.

'What can I do?'

'We need your input, Kiddo. New ideas.'

'I need to know what they took Hotch for in the first place.' Reid said.

'At first it was as an exchange for Curtis, one of their members we have in custody. But when we refused to negotiate, we think Hotch has been kept for the same reason that the other men were kept. But this time, they aren't dumping him to die – at least not yet.'

'Oh my god.' Reid breathed. 'Can't you get out of this Curtis where they could have taken Hotch?'

'He is our last best hope.' Emily said.

-0-0-0-

'Where have they taken Agent Hotchner?' Morgan said. He banged his fists on the table, and Curtis jumped. 'Co operate, if you want to live!'

'Gonna kill me then are you?' Curtis sneered.

'Not me, boy, but rest assured that someone will screw you to the wall where you are going.'

'So what are you going to offer me then to get your queer boy back again?'

Morgan thought he was going to throw up there and then. He took a second to compose himself.

'Man one, and we drop the rape charge, if we get our man back alive, and if we get the rest of your sick gang.'

Morgan was standing, leaning on the table, his nose almost touching Curtis'.

'Let me think about it.' Curtis said.

'You have one hour, damn you.' Morgan left the room and slammed the door.

In the next room, Rossi and Prentiss were watching. The facade dropped as Morgan left the room. Their door opened and Morgan joined them.

'Do you think he'll break?'

'I hope to god he does.' Rossi said. 'Another hour for us could be an eternity to Aaron. I just hope he's strong enough to deal with this.'

'He's strong. He'll survive.' Morgan said.

'I hope you're right.' Emily sighed.

-0-0-0-

Hotch wasn't allowed to dry himself after the shower, but he felt better for being clean. He guessed it wasn't a condition he was going to be allowed to stay in though.

He walked back to the corner, where clean but old and stained towels had been left for him to lay on. The chain was pulled down and re fastened, and he curled up on the towels and tried to sleep. His life was a cycle of abuse, and he needed his strength. The longer he could survive, the more time his team had to find him.

He wrapped his arms around his knees and closed his eyes. He felt like hugging the towels and crying into them, but he had little enough dignity. He needed to hang on to the shred of dignity that he had remaining.

He took one of the towels and tied it around his hips. It was surprising how much better that made him feel. He doubted that he would be allowed to keep it on, but for now it helped. He turned to the bowl of water and drank some, but he refused to touch the food that they had left for him. He sat back against the wall and rocked himself into a fitful sleep where unknown creatures raped him and ripped out his insides. When he woke half an hour later, he was lying in a pool of fresh blood, and he once again wondered if he was going to survive long enough for the team to find him.

He didn't sleep again that day. however tired he was. The nightmares were almost as bad as reality – yet he had a measure of control over reality – the night mares he didn't.

He pulled the towel tightly around him and waited for the next customer.

He wondered why the other men were rejected, even if they got this far. He guessed the time spent in the cellar was training for this, and he had obviously passed the training.

The sound of people talking outside the door cut into his thoughts. There was someone turning the handle.

He crouched down low, and hugged his knees. The pain was about to begin again.

As the door opened, he was surprised to see a woman in the group. They were all holding drinks, and two of them had bottles. the woman went directly to Hotch.

'Hey there, gorgeous, we gonna have some fun together?'

Hotch looked up at her.

'Please..... help me.' he said softly to her.

She pushed him back with her foot and placed her stiletto heel against his eye.

'Only god can help you now.' she said, grinning nastily, and took her foot away from his face. She stood on his hand and ground her heel into the soft flesh. 'Like I said, we are going to have fun together.'

She leaned across him and unlocked the chain. the men were watching her and getting turned on. She pulled Hotch up, and holding his injured hand up his back, marched him over to the bed.

Then the men joined in, holding him face down on the bed and raping him in turns. When they had finished, the bed was awash with blood, and Hotch's face was a mess of blood and tears.

Then the woman took over again. She turned him onto his back and sat astride him. He looked up at her, his eyes pleading with her.

She started to hit him. For a woman she was strong, and Hotch felt skin break as his mouth filled with blood. Clutching his hair, she bit him on the neck and shoulder, drawing blood. He struggled under her, fighting to get away, but the more he fought, the more she liked it, and pulled his hair out in clumps. In the end the men lifted her off him.

'Don't kill him. He's the best we've had here. Save some for another day.'

Hotch turned his head in shame that he had allowed these people to do this to him. But he had learned that fighting got him hurt, and they would take what they want anyway.

His aim at the moment was simply to stay alive until the team found him.

-0-0-0-

'I wasn't really looking. I can't believe we watched the car with Hotch in just drive past us.' Emily was pacing. She never paced.

'Dark green saloon. It's not much to go on, but it's better than nothing.' Dave said. 'Have Penelope come up with a list of all the dark green saloons within tem miles.'

'We have the tyre tracks from the Lodge.' Morgan said. 'I'll get on to the CSU and see what they've come up with. Might cut it down a bit.'

'I should imagine Aaron would have been in the trunk, so it would have to be a larger model.' Dave said.

Morgan was on the phone to the CSU. Yes, they had copies of the tyre tracks, if someone wanted to come down and get them, and any information that they had. Morgan hurried down.

There was only two cars that had those tyres on, Morgan was informed. That was good. It shortened the list greatly. He was also told that the blood trail at the scene was all Agent Hotchner's. That wasn't so good. The blood pools in the cellar were his too. Morgan closed his eyes briefly, trying not to picture the cellar, but picturing it anyway.

He raced back to Garcia's bunker, while telling Dave on the phone what he had found out.

This was a good break. They were closing in.


	9. Vilification

**Escalation  
**Chapter 9  
Vilification

'_**A dog is man's best friend.' English proverb**_

Hotch was in severe pain. When the men came to collect him after the last customers, he was unable to stand, let alone walk, so they dragged him to the bathroom and shoved him in the shower again. He made no protest. Whatever he did, he would lose the fight. He needed to conserve energy.

Today they allowed him warm water. He almost cried with relief as the water washed blood from his face and body. He watched it drain away, swirling pink down the drain. The sight mesmerised him; he was detached. It was someone else's blood and dirt, not his.

He turned his face towards the needles of water, and felt it touch his skin and eye lids, taking with the blood some of the agony.

Then he was pulled out of the shower and back to his corner.

Again he was given washed towels to lie on, and again he tied one around his hips. His food had been changed and the water topped up.

He had to eat. The food smelled horrible. He took a small piece on his finger and ate it. His stomach rebelled, and he vomited again. He couldn't eat the food, but he drank the water, and curled up to go to sleep.

The sleep didn't last long.

'We have an afternoon customer today', he was told, 'so wake up.'

A kick to the back made sure that the message got across, and Hotch cried out in pain as he tried to roll out of the way.

'On your knees.'

Hotch did his best to obey, but he was exhausted. A bucket of ice cold water was thrown at him, which took his breath away, and made him gasp for breath.

Now fully awake, he was left at the mercy of the new customers.

Three men. They unlocked the chain, and made him walk to the bed. Hotch could hardly put one foot in front of the other to get there, and the men grew impatient and dragged him there in the end. They used the chains on the bed, and chained him down on his back.

One man sat across him, facing away from him, so Hotch couldn't see what he was going to do. He was too exhausted to fight, but the pain was unbelievable, as the men assaulted him. he brought his knees up in a fruitless attempt to minimise the pain, but the man's nails dug deep into him and he felt the trickle of blood as he screamed again. He tried to turn over, tried to protect himself from this cruelty. There was nothing he could do.

The man turned around and raped him, his hands on Hotch's throat, tightening, squeezing. Hotch tried to turn his head in a feeble attempt to save his life.....

'Don't kill him! We haven't had a go yet!'

The grip loosened, and Hotch gasped for air, drawing it into his lungs with relief. The man got off him, and another took his place.

This man hit him in the face while he raped him, beating him, and getting turned on by the violence of his attack. Hotch passed out, and whatever the third man did to him didn't hurt any more.

Hotch didn't wake up until it was shower time. He found himself back on his towels, the chain being undone .

'On your feet, scum.' he said to Hotch, who shakily, with the help of the wall, climbed onto his feet. He stood swaying in the corner, not sure if he was able to walk, afraid to try, lest he fall and anger his captors. Carefully he shuffled out of the corner, weak and helpless now, all the fight knocked out of him.

He was once again pulled towards the bathroom, and pushed under the shower. He still had the bloodstained towel around him, and this was snatched from him, exposing his nakedness to his jeering subjugators. Aaron backed into the corner and the water beat down on him, washing the blood out of his hair and off his body, down his legs and down the drain. He held on to the walls, afraid that he would fall, so weak and exhausted, he thought if he slid down to the floor he might just die there.

He was yanked out of the small comfort zone that he had grown to look forward to, and he was taken back to his corner, and he crouched down in the box like the animal that they saw him as.

'Don't sleep, dog. You have more work to do.'

He looked up with tearful eyes. He was not going to survive this, at least he determined that his corpse would hold some dignity. As soon as he was alone, he again tied a towel around his loins.

He sat and waited for his next customers. He was surprised to see that this time, it was a group of women, drunk and raucous, screaming in delight at the sight of him chained up ready for them.

One woman approached him. She had in her hand a bottle of liquid with a sports lid. She grabbed his hair and wrenched his head back, forcing the liquid down his throat. He pushed it away, coughing up the liquid he had taken so far. Another two of the women went to help and he was held down and the rest of it was force fed to him. It tasted like water, but he had only taken a little when he realised that it was drugged. He coughed and struggled but the women held him tight, and he swallowed all of it.

What ever the drug was, it didn't help the pain he was in, it simply made him unable to resist them. The women were scantily dressed and tears came to his eyes as his weakened beaten drugged body responded to them. He fought the feeling, but the drug was doing its work, and the first woman unchained him and led him meekly to the bed where she pushed him down backwards and took him.

Hotch cried in shame and humiliation as one by one the women roughly took what they wanted, kissing him and touching him. When they were finished, they pulled him off the bed and played with him, pushing him around as he struggled to remain on his feet. The pain was too much, and after a brutal kick in the kidneys, the man fainted on the floor. The women continued to jeer at him and abuse him. Blood ran from his broken nose and split lips. A thin stream trickled from his ear.

They were tired of him now there was no response. One of them went out and complained that he was unconscious, and so was not any fun. She was provided with ammonia to wake him again.

He woke with a start as the chemical burnt the inside of his damaged nose, and his eyes watered. The drug had worn off, but the women had sex toys that they raped him with, and it was hours later that they finally got bored with him, and left him.

They had paid a lot of money for the girls' night out entertainment, and vowed they would come back soon, provided it was the same dog, and he wasn't dead yet.

-0-0-0-

Twenty addresses. It was going to take time to check them all and Dave had the unenviable task of choosing what order to check them in. He took the list to Curtis.

'I won't say another thing until I have a lawyer.' he said.

'Just tell us which is the address where they are holding Agent Hotchner.' Rossi said. He pushed the sheet of paper with the possible addresses on across the table to Curtis. He picked up the paper as if he was scrutinising it, and suddenly he ripped it up and threw the bits in the air.

Rossi grabbed the man by his collar.

'That was a big mistake, Curtis.' he said, nose to nose with the man. 'That was your last chance. Now the charge is murder, rape and kidnapping, twenty five to life, without parole. You are a stupid man. Your lawyer is on the way.'

Fuming, and afraid he might lose it and thump the man, Dave left the room, and joined Morgan and Prentiss.

'Get him a lawyer.' he growled.

'So we check them all?' Morgan said.

'Yes, and we had better start now. It is going to take a long time to search all the places, we'd best get started.

They went outside and collected the SUV. The first address was close by and took only a few minutes to get to. It was a small house squashed between two apartment blocks. Morgan and Rossi went to the front door while Emily went to the back.

A young man came to the door.

'Good morning Sir.' Rossi said. 'Are you the owner of a Green Rover 200?'

'Well my son is. He's.... has there been an accident? Is Danny ok?'

'It's OK, Sir, we are just trying to locate a specific green Rover 200. Where is yours?'

'Until half n hour ago, it was in the garage' He said. 'Then my lad took it out for a spin, to see his girlfriend.'

'Thank you Sir. i don't think we need to bother you again, thank you.'

Morgan and Rossi ran back to the SUV, where Emily joined them

The next two places were much the same, family men with their cars in the garage. They checked the cars, and there was no sign that a man had been carried in the trunk. The fourth place showed some promise though.

Over the door was s sign 'Mimi's Massage Parlour'. Morgan and Rossi went straight in. They were greeted by a plump middle aged lady, who introduced herself as Mimi.

'We are rather busy at the moment.' she said, 'but if you are ok sharing – and that can be a lot of fun! – I can fix you up in say, thirty minutes.'

'What types of massage do you offer?' Dave asked.

'Well,' Mimi said, a glint in her eye, 'We offer the whole range, from Indian Head Massage, down to the full Deep Massage, if you know what I mean.'

Dave produced his ID and a photo of Aaron.

'We are Federal Agents, looking for this man.'

Mimi's face changed as if a switch had been thrown.

'You got a warrant?' she spat. 'Our clientele request anonymity.'

'He is not a client, Mimi, and we will get a warrant if you insist.'

'You do that. Now kindly leave my Massage Parlour.'

Dave and Morgan left the premises, and went back to the SUV.

'Let's get that warrant. We have probable cause.'

-0-0-0-

Hotch was in a state of profound shock after 'entertaining' the women. He had no time to rest when the next clients entered the room. All men this time. They looked at him, and poked him about a bit, calling him names and laughing at his impotence. Then one of them produced the key and unchained him.

He couldn't stand any more. His back was bruised and he thought he had a damaged kidney. He was peeing blood, his face was bleeding and he was bleeding still from the rapes. He couldn't walk.

They dragged him by the neck across the floor to the bed. They had to lift him onto the bed, as he was not capable of getting up there himself, and they chained him, face down.

The first man was brutal. As he raped Hotch he beat him senseless, and blood ran freely from his mouth nose and ear. They had to throw water in his face to wake him up for the next man, who was no kinder. They despised Aaron, hating him, and taking this hate out in violence to his body. They bruised his back and tore into him, taking what they wanted, ignoring his soft cries for them to stop, his small whimpers of pain, liking the fact that he was hurting so badly.

When Aaron vomited after a brutal punch in the back, they hit him more as punishment. When they had finally finished beating him and raping him savagely, he was a blood soaked quivering mess. They pulled him off the bed and he landed on the floor with a wet sounding crash, and dragged him back to his box with the towels in. They chained him back up, but it was not necessary. He was going no where.

A lot of money was paid. This dog was proving to be popular with a certain clientele.


	10. Contrition

Escalation  
Chapter 10  
Contrition

"_**Play fair. Don't hit people. Say you're **__**sorry**__** when you hurt somebody.**__**" - Robert Fulghum**_

It was about midnight that Aaron was finally left to sleep. His owners didn't clean him up yet as they thought he needed some time to recover from a particularly brutal day. He crawled under the towels to hide his face from the world, hoping now that the team wouldn't find him. He was beyond recovery, and the shame he felt was enough to make him wish he could die.

His skin was sticky with blood but he didn't care, he just wanted to sleep. He was suffering agonising pain throughout his battered body, but he tried to ignore it as he drifted off into exhausted sleep that was more like unconsciousness than natural sleep.

-0-0-0-

Dave had his warrant. He took the team in his car, and Abrams took a car full of cops as back up. They drove out to the address where Mimi ran her massage parlour, and stood outside, a few doors down the road. Rossi sent the cops around the back of the house to collect any escapees, and he went to the front door with Morgan and Prentiss. The door was unlocked and the three agents let themselves in. Mimi came to meet them, and Dave gave her the warrant.

They searched the house. There was nothing there apart from the usual one would find in a brothel. Dave was upset and frustrated. He had wasted time on this when Aaron was suffering somewhere else.

The men who were there, they insisted, for Indian Head massages, were all sent home, and Mimi was arrested for running a brothel.

There was no sign of any men working there. Dave thought it was too much of a coincidence, something he didn't believe in.

Back at the precinct, Mimi, or Mrs. Miranda Sugden, was being questioned, as Prentiss and the cops went through the house checking everything.

'Where are the men, Mrs Sugden?'

'Men? Sorry, but they don't give good massages. We don't employ men.'

Dave slid two photos of Aaron across the table. One of them was of Aaron after he had been beaten. Mimi looked carefully at them.

'I don't know him.' She looked straight into Dave's eyes. 'But I wish I did.' she added with a greedy smile.

'If this man dies, and we find out that you knew something we could use to find him, you will be charged with accessory to murder.' He showed her another picture. 'What about him?'

Mimi looked at the photo of Curtis. There was a flash of recognition across her face before she denied any knowledge of him. Dave wasn't convinced. He knew that she knew him.

'This man has told us all about you, Mrs Sugden, which is how we found you.' Dave lied. 'So we know that you know him. Now tell us about this man, or you will be charged as an accessory to kidnapping, rape and murder.'

Mimi blanched under her thick make up. 'I don't know who this man is. But I lend my car to this man,' she pointed to Curtis, 'and he uses it to run his business.'

'And what business might that be?' Dave asked.

'I wouldn't know. Just that he employs men. There is a group of them.'

Dave stood up. 'You had better hope that we find them, Mrs Sugden.' he said, 'Otherwise you are in deep trouble.'

He left the room, and joined Morgan in the observation room.

'She knows.' Morgan said. Dave nodded. 'She'd better start praying, because if we find proof that she is involved, she's going away or a long long time.'

-0-0-0-

It was Emily who found the address book. It wasn't in the usual places one might keep such an item, rather it was under the pillow in Mimi's private bedroom. She flicked through the pages. There weren't very many entries in it, but why hide something as innocuous as an address book. She popped it in an evidence bag and told Abrams she was going back to the precinct.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was still sleeping in his corner. His body was racked with pain, and the pain was in his night mares, as horrible creatures caught him and abused him as he slept. He ran from the creatures in his dream, but they always caught him and hurt him. He moaned out loud as his body moved in the towels where he slept, hands clutching at the cloth as he relived the rapes and beatings. He woke up suddenly, face covered with bloody tears.

He looked up and was surprised to see no body there. He looked around, expecting there to be someone wanting him for some deviation, but the room was empty. Aaron shivered and pulled the towels around himself. He closed his eyes again, and slipped back to sleep.

-0-0-0-

Emily was back at the precinct with the address book, showing it to Dave.

'It was hidden, Dave. I think we ought to check out all these addresses.'

'I agree.' Dave said. He took the book in the evidence bag and said, 'I will show it to Sugden, and see what she has to say about it.

Mimi looked down at the book. She wasn't a professional criminal, and couldn't keep the anxiety from her face.

'It's an address book. Don't you have one?'

'Show me the address where my agent is being held, and your charges will be reduced.'

Mimi opened the book and pointed to an address.

'Here, I think.' she said. This might be the address that you want.'

Dave ran out of the room. 'Let's go!'

-0-0-0-

Aaron was woken up again, this time, icy water was thrown at him.

He rolled onto his back. Three faces looked down at him. Aaron knew what was coming. he lay mutely as the chain was unlocked, and he was pulled to his feet.

Aaron's fit athletic body was a mass of dark bruises and blood stains. His skin was pale beneath the bruising, and his hair, now dripping with cold water, was dirty and matted with blood, and the water dripping from it was pink with shed blood. The sudden movement had set off the bleeding again, and thick blood ran down his pale legs. He swayed on his feet.

A sharp tug at the chain around his neck pulled him off balance, and he fell to his knees with a sickening crack. He tried to hold his head up, but the weight of his life pressed down on him, and he meekly waited for what ever these three men wanted. He crawled towards the bed as the three men giggled at him. When he reached the bed, Aaron pulled himself onto it, and sat with his hands forward, waiting for the chains to be fastened onto him.

Aaron didn't say a word as the men attached the chains to his swollen raw wrists, and pushed him down onto his back. He wept silently as they attacked him, and he made no attempt to fight them off.

They had broken him.

-0-0-0-

They drove past the address closest to the precinct, but there was no one there. It was an empty abandoned office. There was an old desk in the main room, with a telephone on the desk, but nothing else except a few papers, which the team carefully put into evidence bags.

The next address was the one Mimi had showed them. It was a good half hour's drive, and Dave gambled that she hadn't been lying, and they would find Aaron there.

-0-0-0-

The young woman was torn by guilt. She sat on her bed and sobbed. How had she been so cruel? She was not an evil person, but had been urged on by her so called friends. She needed to make amends. She needed to visit the man again.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was beaten into a coma and dragged back to the corner where he was once again chained up like the animal he was becoming. He moaned in pain as the chain was jerked closer to the wall. They left him there on the pile of grubby towels and left.

Aaron wasn't taken to the shower this time. There were customers waiting, and he was woken up with the ammonia bottle ready for the next paying customer.

Aaron looked up at her. She was on her own, and he thought that he recognised her. She bent down to unlock the chain, and stepped back, almost as if she was afraid of him. Then she reached down to him.

'I am so sorry for what we did to you. Please, forgive me.' She touched his cheek tenderly with the backs of her fingers. 'I want to help you.'

She helped him to his feet and Aaron leaned against her, wondering if this was some kind of evil trick to get him to lower his defences. Well, they needn't bother. He had no defences left. He staggered forwards towards the bed, the pain he was feeling was muted by his semi conscious state, but he knew what to do. He cringed as she put her arm around him and took his weight.

Carefully she led him to the bed and laid him down on his side. She covered him with the duvet, and slipped off her clothes down to her underwear, and then she got into bed beside him. She put her arms gently round him, and nuzzled her face into his wet matted hair.

'I am so sorry for what we did.' she whispered. 'I want to make it right with you.'

Very softly she stroked his hair and kissed his face where he was bleeding.

'I want to get you out of here.' she whispered to him.

'I can't leave.' he whispered. 'I belong here now.'

'No you don't.' she said, lovingly caressing his bruised skin. 'I am going to get you out, I promise.'

She put her arms around his waist and drew him close to her, softly kissing the back of his neck, and his hair. He took her hands and held them tight around him as if afraid she would go. She felt his chest rise and fall as he breathed, and gradually the rhythm slowed as he fell asleep in her arms. Her tears fell and wetted his neck.

Aaron slept. But he still walked in night mares of creatures which wanted to hurt him. He woke after a short while, beads of sweat on his forehead, trembling with fear.

Then he remembered the woman who was in the bed with him, someone who was pressing her face into his hair and whispering softly that she would never hurt him again.

He felt tears fall from his eyes. It was too late for anyone to help him.

'I have to go.' she said. Carefully she pulled her arm out that he was lying on, and got out of the bed. She put her clothes on and leaned over him and kissed him.

'P-please, don't .... go.'

'I am going to get you out.' she whispered.

'I don't think that you are!'

She spun round to see two men at the door staring at her. One of them was carrying a gun. She stared in shock. She stepped to the side so that she was between Aaron and the gun. But she stood mute, terrified.

'Come with us.' The man waved the gun, indicating that she should go with him. She didn't move and the other man came forward and pulled her arm.

'Leave her alone!'

Hotch was standing next to the bed. He stepped forwards and pulled the man's hand from her arm.

'Don't touch her.' he said, anger filling his voice.

There was the sound of the gunshot ripping through the air, and a red spray of blood across the white duvet, and the harsh sound of a body hitting the floor.

'Now do as you are told, otherwise you will be next!'


	11. Emancipation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 11  
Emancipation

"_**The **__**emancipation**__** of our physical nature is in attaining health, of our social being in attaining goodness, and of our self in attaining love.**__**" – Rabindranath Tagore**_

'FBI Freeze!'

'Nobody move!'

The three agents burst into the room, drawn there by the sound of gunfire. They stood, adding to the frozen tableau in the room.

four men stood in front of the agents, one holding a gun. The overpowering smell of cordite filled the room. On the floor in front of them was a man, naked except for a towel tied around him. Next to him knelt a woman. Nobody moved for an eternity, then the woman moved between the fallen man and those with the guns.

'Don't kill him, please, someone help him.'

'Drop your weapon.' Rossi said.

Very slowly the man with the gun began to raise it, his finger white on the trigger.

'I said drop it.' Dave repeated.

The man fired his gun simultaneously with the agents. The shot went wide as the Agent's bullets hit the target, the man dropped the gun and fell to the floor. One of the other men went to pick up the weapon, and Prentiss took him out with no preamble.

'Anyone else care to try.' Dave said.

The remaining two men raised their hands and allowed Morgan to cuff them. They were cuffed together, and Morgan took them down to the SUV that was waiting for them. Then he returned.

Prentiss went to the fallen man. He had a gun shot wound to the chest, and was coughing painfully, flecks of blood on his broken lips.

'Oh my god, Rossi, This is Hotch!'

Rossi was by her side in an instant. He stroked Aaron's hair from his eyes, and took his hand.

'Aaron, you are safe now.'

The man lying in front of him screwed up his eyes and turned his head away.

'No....' he whispered. 'Not safe....' and his words were cut off by a fit of agonised coughing. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

'Stay with me, Aaron.' Rossi said.

Morgan had returned and he pulled out his mobile.

'I don't think there is time, Derek. We will have to take him to the ER.' Rossi said, Lifting Aaron in his arms. 'We need to hurry.'

Hotch moaned softly as Rossi lifted him off the floor. The three agents and the woman ran out of the room and down the stairs to the second car. Ever so gently, Dave laid Aaron on the back seat, and sat down with him. The woman got in beside him. She didn't ask, and no one told her otherwise. Prentiss sat in the front. Morgan took the driving seat. He started the engine.

'How's he doing?' he asked.

'He's not good.' Dave answered as Morgan spun the car round and drove back towards the city.

He drove like a maniac as Dav held onto Aaron in the back. Aaron's eyes were open, and staring up at Dave. Dave could feel the warmth of blood as it soaked the towel, and he pressed his hand onto the entry wound on his chest.

'Keep awake, Aaron.' Dave whispered to his friend. Aaron looked up at Dave, his hand squeezing Dave's.

'Take care..... of Jack..... please...... I am .... dying.'

'No Aaron, you can take care of him yourself. You are not going to die on me. Open those eyes, now Aaron!'

Hotch had closed his eyes and turned away from Dave. Dave took Hotch's face in his hands.

'Open your eyes, Hotchner!'

Hotch's eyes fluttered open, and tears fell from them and ran down the side of his face into his hair.

'The woman.... helped me. Is.... she here?'

'I'm here.' She spoke for the first time. 'I won't leave you.'

Morgan turned the SUV into the hospital, and drove into the ambulance bay. Dave jumped out and ran into the ER.

'I need help outside, please!'

A doctor ran forward to him.

'Outside in my car!' Dave said, and the two of them ran out to the SUV where Morgan and Prentiss were standing by the car. The woman was in the back, holding onto Aaron. She got out as the doctor approached.

He leaned into the car and felt Hotch's neck for a pulse.

'There's no pulse, help me!' he said, and pulled Hotch out of the car and laid him on the floor of the ambulance bay. He began CPR.

'Go inside and get me some help!' he said, and Dave and Morgan ran into the ER and called for help. three nurses and another doctor joined them and rushed outside, one of then grabbed a gurney and brought it outside. Quickly they lifted Aaron onto the gurney, all the time, the doctor was administering CPR.. They pushed the gurney through the doors and through the ER to the resus room. The three agents and the woman were left in the ER. They sat down, exhausted after the trauma of the preceding hour.

Dave turned to the woman.

'Tell us who you are.' he said to her. She began to explain.

'I am so ashamed of what I did. I had been drinking, and I was egged on by the others. I have no excuse, and I went back to tell the man how sorry I was. I didn't hurt him again, I wanted to get him out of there.'

'His name is Aaron Hotchner.' Morgan said. 'What's your name.'

'I am Libby Cotter.' she answered. 'Is Aaron going to be ok? I wanted to help him. Please don't let him die!' Libby began to cry. Emily sat by her and put her arm around her.

'It's ok, Libby.' she said. 'You did the right thing in the end, and almost lost your life doing it.' She smiled a shaky smile at the woman. 'Hotch is tough. he'll pull through.'

-0-0-0-

That wasn't what the doctors were thinking. They got Hotch breathing again and he Had a pulse now. They ran a rape kit on him, and were horrified at the injuries Hotch had. The man had been assaulted by many agessors, and they were most concerned with stopping the bleeding. He had lost a good deal of blood, and they set up a drip of plasma expanders to bring up the blood volume. He groaned in agony as they turned him onto his side to examine him, and cried out as they ran their tests. A nurse sat with him and stroked his hair and held his hand.

he had been beaten, and had several cracked ribs and facial bones, including his cheek and right orbit. He had cuts and contusions all over his body and was severely bruised. They did what they could in resus, and then sent him to theatre where his internal injuries were repaired.

But after what he had been through, the psychological damage was far worse that the physical. The doctor went to speak to his friends.

-0-0-0-

Libby Cotter told the agents what they had done to Hotch. She was crying as she told them how they had assaulted him and knocked him about, and how he had offered no resistance.

'We had all been at the wrong end of a man's fist in the past, and wanted to get our own back.' she said. 'I am so sorry.'

Hotch never hurt anyone.' Morgan said angrily. 'He went out of his way to help people like you, and you turn on him like this.'

Dave put his hand out to Morgan.

'She realised and went to help him.' Dave said. 'Leave all this until later.'

Morgan closed his eyes and was abut to say something, when the doctor came into the room.

'Are you the friends of Mr Htchner?' he asked.

Dave stood up and offered his hand.

'We are. Do you have news?'

Mr Hotchner is in a stable but critical condition.' the doctor said. 'He had severe internal injuries and has lost a lot of blood. It seems he has been raped by multiple assailants. He is very ill.'

Prentiss stepped forwards. 'Can we see him?' she asked.

'He is only just out of surgery.' the doctor said. 'He is in a drug induced coma. He would be in too much pain to be awake. It will be several days before he can receive visitors.'

Rossi turned to Morgan. 'You and Prentiss go back to the precinct and process Miss Cotter. I will remain here and wait for news. I will go and see Reid and tell him what's happened.'

Morgan, Prentiss and Libby left the ER and went back to the SUV which was still in the ambulance bay. Dave went to enquire after Reid.

-0-0-0-

Rossi found Reid in physiotherapy, practicing walking with a prosthetic foot, and from what Dave could see from the doorway, was doing a good job. When Reid saw Rossi, he stopped and sat down.

'Have you found him?' he asked.

'Yes. he's alive, but badly beaten and mistreated. It will be a long time before he is able to come back to work.'

'He's been raped, hasn't he?'

Reid remembered the previous victims had all been raped and beaten. Ross didn't answer the question, but Reid knew.

'I want to go and see him.' he said.

'he's had surgery, Reid, and is still in a bad way. He was shot in the chest, and had severe internal injuries. It will be some time before he can have visitors. He's still unconscious, in a drug induced coma to protect him from the pain.

Reid felt tears gather in his eyes. 'I have to be with him. I should have had his back when he was abducted. I need to be with him.'

Dave touched Reid briefly on the shoulder. 'Just get yourself fixed, Reid. We are two men down. We need you back at work.'

Spencer blinked back the tears.

'Just get yourself well, Reid. Aaron is going to be fine. It will just take time. Don't worry, you will be able to see him soon. I'll make sure the doctors tell you as soon as he can have visitors.

-0-0-0-

Reid sat in the chair by his bed and thought of all that Rossi had said. He reached for his crutches and hobbled out of his side ward. There were no nurses at the workstation, they had presumably been called to an emergency.

It was late at night, and the corridors were lit by emergency lighting. It looked totally different to how it looked during the day. Reid continued down the corridor to the lift. he knew exactly where he was going, and he vowed no one would stop him.

Intensive Care was in the third floor. He pressed the button and waited as the lift doors closed and he was taken closer to Aaron. The only problem was how to get past the nurses at the ICU workstation. But he had an idea of what he was going to say.

'I am sorry, but Mr Hotchner is too ill to have visitors except from immediate family.' the nurse said, just as Reid expected.

'I am the closest he has.' Reid lied. 'I am his lover.'

The nurse looked surprised and checked her list again. 'It says nothing of him having a lover here.'

'That is understandable, since it was a secret.'

The nurse smiled. 'I'm glad Mr Hotchner had someone. You may go in.'

Reid smiled back. He had lied of course. Hotch was not Reid's lover, nor would he ever be. But Reid loved him, and wanted there to be more in their relationship. He hoped that someday, Hotch would be able to reciprocate his love.

And Hotch shouldn't be alone.

Reid went to the side ward where Hotch was lying in a coma. There were heart monitors on his chest, and a tube into his throat. The blood on his face and body had not been washed off yet, and he looked a mess. Reid didn't stop the tears now. He sat in the chair beside him and took his hand. Reid noticed how pale and thin he looked.

'I am so sorry, Hotch. I should have had your back and I failed. I won't fail you now though. I will never fail you again.'

He leaned over and kissed his forehead, and rested his head on the bed and went to sleep.


	12. Desperation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 12  
Desperation

_**Love has no desire but to fulfil itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving. ~Kahlil Gibran **_

The doctors allowed Aaron to wake up on the third day. They stopped the artificial coma meds and gradually, he slipped into wakefulness. The first thing he noticed was someone holding his hand. His eyes were still closed and the pain was reduced to a dull ache by the medication, but he remembered everything, and desperately tried to fall back into his safe place where he had been. It was too late though, and wakefulness beckoned and he couldn't resist.

very slowly he opened his eyes and saw Reid sitting next to him, his head on the bed, his eyes closed in sleep. He carefully took back his hand and turned his head away from him. Did they know what had happened to him? How could he ever face them?

The movement of his hand woke Reid, and had Aaron been looking he would have seen a look of real joy on the younger man's face. He wasn't looking, however. Instead, he tried to speak. His mouth was dry and sore, and immediately Reid saw that he needed a drink, and he reached over to the bottled water. He put a bottle in Aaron's hand.

'Welcome back, Hotch.' Reid said as Aaron took the bottle and sipped a drink.

'Please leave me, Reid. I can't see you.'

To try to emphasise the point, Aaron turned onto his side away from his visitor.

'I can't leave you, Hotch. I have been sitting here for days waiting for you to wake up so that I can help you to get well. How could I possibly leave you now?'

'I don't want any visitors, Reid. I need to be alone.'

Hotch faced the wall with determination. How could he ever be the same again after what had happened to him. He would heal where they had torn his skin, the broken bones would mend, and the bruises would fade. But in his mind there were injuries that would never leave him. He had died in his mind, and right now he wished he had died in his body too.

He heard the door open, and a nurse said, 'Well hello, Mr Hotchner. It's good to have you back again.' She had in her hand a little cup containing some pills which she took round to him. 'Please take these, Mr Hotchner. They will help with the pain.'

Aaron looked at the pills in his hand. He couldn't look at the nurse; not knowing that she knew what had happened to him. he slipped the pills under his pillow, and pretended to take them. Then he closed his eyes again.

'Please leave me alone. I want to sleep.' he said.

Reid touched his forehead. 'Please let me stay, Hotch. i want to be with you.' he said.

Hotch didn't answer him, but he rolled further over onto his side. Reid sighed and touched Hotch's hair.

'I can't leave you.' Reid whispered. 'I love you.'

Hotch didn't hear. He settled on his misery, and pretended to sleep. His mind was a turmoil of the events of the last week, and he felt the pain now as he was wide awake. he thought of the pain killers under his pillow, but he needed those for later. He listened to Reid's gentle breathing, and felt the weight of his head on the side of his bed.

How could he want to be with him? How could he overlook the depth he had sunk to? Why does he not hate him?

Aaron imagined those filthy hands upon him, and the vicious and brutal attacks. he felt the pain as his skin ripped and broke, and he felt the fists on his weakened body. He wanted to die. He prayed that he would die.

Reid reached out to him and touched the pale skin on the back od Hotch's neck. The skin was marked by the metal collar that he had worn as a captive, and he cringed at Reid's gentle touch. Reid felt the muscles in Hotch's back tighten as he touched him, and he withdrew his hand.

'Sorry.' he said softly. He was desperate to try to reassure this man who had been through so much. He understood why he wanted him to go, but he also knew that Hotch needed him to be could just as easily have been him who was abducted, and Hotch who had been left in the car wreck to die. Reid admired and loved Aaron. He would do anything for him, die for him. But now there was a barrier that Hotch had built, and he wasn't allowing anyone to enter. His heart was closed off.

Reid didn't know why. He couldn't understand that Hotch was blaming himself for what had happened, and felt humiliated and filthy because of it. All Reid wanted to do was take the man in his arms and try to reassure him, tell him that it wasn't his fault, and say sorry for not having his back. Instead, he stood and left the room. The desire to touch him was too great and he knew that Hotch didn't want to be touched.

He called David.

-0-0-0-

'He's wake.' Reid said to Dave. 'He needs all of us, although he doesn't realise it.'

'I understand.' Dave said. He was back at the precinct interviewing the two surviving men from the house, and also Libby Cotter, who had admitted raping Aaron while he was drugged. She was crying, and she admitted everything, and gave the names of the other women that she had been with. Dave sent cops out to bring them in. Although it would be difficult to prove that they raped him without their confessions. He thought it unlikely that they would confess, given the nature of the crime, and the custodial sentence that they would receive as mandatory.

'you will be glad to know that Agent Hotchner had woken up, and is off the critical list. It is unlikely now that there will be a murder charge, although poisoning and Rape still stands.'

Dave got up and left the room. There was little else that he could do with her now.

'Take her down.' he said to the cops on duty. He had her confession, and her willingness to give it, and the fact that she had given up the other rapists would count in her favour at her trial. Now all he wanted to do was go and see Aaron.

-0-0-0-

Hotch realised that he had been crying. His pillow was wet and his eyes were sore. His insides hurt like hell because he was saving up his pain meds, and every sob pulled at his bruised broken ribs. Reid had gone now, but he kept on his side, facing the wall. He clenched his fists under the sheets, clenched them in anger, an anger directed at himself for being weak, and allowing the men to violate him, and drive him to the state he was now in – a state of wanting to die.

He tried to think if he had anything to live for. He could never lead his team again. They couldn't possibly follow a man who was so low and pathetic. He could never be a father to his son. Jack needed someone to protect him against the evils of the society that he was part of, but the man he now was, the man he had become, was not able to protect anything, least of all anything as precious as Jacky.

He heard the door open, and he hoped that it was the nurse with more pain killers. Instead he heard a familiar voice of a man whom he had once called a friend.

'I'm glad you ate awake, Aaron.' the man said. Hotch didn't move. The embarrassment he felt was palpable in the room.

'I don't want visitors.' Hotch said. 'Dave, please don't visit. I want to be left alone.'

'Isolating yourself will not help you. All it will do is bring on your own selfish longing, and it will make you worse.'

'There is no worse.' Hotch replied. 'Please go now.'

Hotch hated to dismiss Dave so summarily. He almost wanted to cling onto him and cry into his shoulder, and receive the love and friendship that Dave, merely by his presence, had promised. But things were never going to be right. He was damaged goods, soiled and used, and he didn't want his friends to see him like that.

Dave touched his arm.

'A lot of people love you, Aaron. Don't push us away.'

Hotch didn't move until he heard the door close after him, and then he drew his knees up, and curled up under the sheets. He felt dizzy with pain. Unconsciously his hand went to the little collection of pills that he was saving. Soon this wretched miserable life would be over. It was already forfeit, soon the deed would be done.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but the pain was too bad. Where his insides had torn during the rapes, the doctors thought he had an infection. So far the STD tests had come back negative, but the HIV test took longer. Not that it mattered now anyway.

His pale skin was flushed with the fever that the infection was causing, and the pain when he moved was getting worse. He straightened out, trying to find a comfortable position. When the nurse came in with his pain meds, he was almost tempted to take them. He managed a weak smile at her.

'Thanks.' he said, and palmed the pills. Soon they joined those he was collecting. Not long now. Maybe one more day and he would have enough.

-0-0-0-

Reid watched Aaron through the window. He so wanted to go and sit with him. When he thought he was asleep, he opened the door and hobbled to the chair. He wanted to touch him, stroke his hair, kiss his pale skin, but he didn't want to wake him. So he sat in silence, and simply enjoyed the being close to him.

What he really longed to do was lie on the bed with him, but he thought that after everything he had been through, it could frighten him. So he stayed close, but not touching, and he felt overwhelmed with desire for him.

Life was cruel, Reid thought. The one thing that could help Aaron was for him to feel loved by his friends, but he was rejecting all their efforts to help him. He realised that it was going to take intensive therapy for him to be better, if he would ever be ready to come back to work.

-0-0-0-

Reid sat in the relatives room with Dave Morgan and Prentiss.

'He's not responding to anyone.' Reid said.

'He's been gang raped and beaten. We need to give him time.' Morgan said. 'How did he react to the news that we have prosecuted the kidnappers?'

'There was no reaction.' Dave said. 'Nothing seems to get through to him now. We need a break. There has to be something that will pull him through.'

'I have an idea.' said Emily. 'How about a taped message from Jack.'

-0-0-0-

Hotch closed his fingers around the pills that he had been saving. They were a derivative of morphine, and he had about thirty of them. Carefully, painfully, he pulled himself onto his back. The movement did something to his insides, and he wanted to cry out in agony. Instead he bit down on his lip. There was a bottle of water by his bed that Reid had left for him. Even reaching for it caused a wave of pain.

It was ok though. Soon there would be no more pain.

He lined the pills up on the table. They were yellow and red capsules, and he put them all around the same way. Then one by one, he took them into his mouth and swallowed them. This was it. This was when he took control of his life. This was his decision.

He took some more, feeling a sense of flooding relief as he swallowed each one. He took a drink to wash them down , and continued along the line. He wondered whether he would feel the affects of the pain killing before he died, or whether he would die first.

Not that it mattered.

It was over.

He took the last one and turned onto his side again.


	13. Jeopardisation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 13  
Jeopardisation

'_**The game of life is hard to play.' The Theme from MASH**_

The shrill sound of the alarm cut through the quiet of the unit, drowning out the sound of 'Dancing Queen'. Instantly, the nurses sprang to life and rushed down the corridor the Hotchner's room.

'Crash call!' someone yelled, and the cart was wheeled quickly to Hotch's ward.

Somebody pressed the crash alarm and alerted the team, which came running, the doctor in the lead.

Morgan caught hold of someone as they rushed by.

'What has happened?' he said, but his grip was shaken off and the man ran on, ignoring the agents as they watched in fear as the emergency team crowded into Aaron's room. Prentiss ran forward to watch through the window but the blind had been closed. She bit her lip, terrified of what was happening. There was something she needed to tell him, and she prayed that she would get the chance.

-0-0-0-

Aaron had died. He was still and pale on the bed, lying on his side facing the wall. He was pulled onto his back, and the pillow removed so that he was lying flat. They checked his eyes.

'Overdose.' some body said, and a tube was thrust down his throat while another pulled apart his jacket and placed the defib electrodes on his chest.

'Charging three hundred, clear!'

And Hotch's body jerked off the bed. The 'scope showed a flat line.

'Again! Clear!'

His body jerked again. Black liquid was poured down the tube into his stomach.

Charging three fifty..... clear!'

What more could they put this man through. His body jumped on the bed, and this time, a blip on the scope, everyone in the room sighed with relief.

This man shouldn't die.

The stomach tube was lowered towards the floor, and his stomach contents collected in a bottle. The bright colours of the capsules showed through the bottle sides. They knew what he had done.

This time they saved him.

'All future meds to be given as an injection. Please check obs every ten minutes.' barked the doctor. Aaron's chart was written up. One by one the crash team left the ward.

Emily grabbed someone. 'What happened?' she said, fear in her voice.

'It seemed that he collected his medication and took it all at once.' she said. 'The poor man must have been in agony. He hadn't been taking his pain meds.'

Emily's hand went to her mouth.

'And now?'

'We pulled him back this time.' she said, and rushed off after her colleagues.

Emily turned to the others.

'We have to get that tape.'

-0-0-0-

Haley was happy to have Jack talk to his Daddy. David didn't say anything about the attempted suicide, just that Aaron was in hospital, and needed some encouragement. She promised to send it to Aaron's PDA.

'I'll do it straight away.' she said, and called jack in from the garden where he had been playing.

'Daddy misses you, Jack, and wants you to send him a message.

Jack smiled. He loved and missed his Daddy and he took the microphone in his hand.

'Hello Daddy, Let me tell you about soccer club!'

-0-0-0-

Aaron cried bitter tears as he lay on his back where they had left him. It hadn't worked, they had pulled him back, and now that chance had gone. His tears ran down the side of his face into his hair and wet the sheet. He wanted to howl and cry, but at that moment, his friends came into the room. He saw a look of deep worry on the face of Dave, and his own despair reflected that look. He turned away from them, and Emily took his hand.

'Hotch', she said, 'we love you. Please let us help you.'

Aaron was beyond speaking. If he opened his mouth, he knew his distress would be vocalised, and he somehow couldn't allow that to happen in front of his team......

His Team.

Not any more. He couldn't imagine being allowed to run the team in the state he was in.

'Please....' he whispered, 'leave me ....'

Emily stepped back from the bed, releasing his hand. A tear ran down her face. She fought to conceal it.

Dave put his hand on her shoulder.

'Let's wait outside.' he said gently.

Reid Morgan and Emily followed Dave out into the corridor.

'Why did he do it?' Emily breathed. 'He's safe now. Why?'

'We have to show him how much we need him.' Reid said. 'Without crowding him.'

'One at a time visiting.' Dave said, 'And never leave him alone.'

'The message from Jack should be on Hotch's PDA soon.' Morgan said. 'Hopefully that will help.'

'I'll sit with him first.' Reid said, and he picked up his crutches and went back into the ward.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was hurting. Now the pain meds were in the drip, he wasn't feeling the physical pain that he had earlier, but inside, his heart was broken. How could he ever face real life again? In his job he half expected to get shot or injured, but this was different. He was humiliated, destroyed, and the team would know how he allowed the UnSubs to over power him and abuse him. He couldn't face them. His life was over. All he had to do was stop living.

He turned onto his side again, facing the wall. He knew his friends were talking about him and what he had been through, and he didn't know how he was going to react to them. He also knew that they wouldn't give up on him.

He heard the door open, and he guessed by the sound of his walking that it was Reid. When Reid took his hand, Aaron didn't know how to respond. His dark depression surfaced and he began to cry again. How could they touch him, or even be near him.

Reid was talking to him.

'....we need you back leading the team.' Reid said, and tightened his hand on Aaron's.

'They..... defeated me.' Hotch whispered softly. 'I c-can't come back.'

'You are not defeated.' Reid said. 'You are hurt, but you will heal. We are here to help you heal'

Aaron didn't answer. He didn't know how. The ex prosecutor, who was lost in a deep terrifying battlefield of despair. He turned his hand around so that it was palm to palm with Reid's, and he closed his eyes.

If only sleep would come.

If only the pills had worked

If only...... if only....

-0-0-0-

Reid wanted to lie on the bed with Aaron, hold him tight, tell him that he loved him, but he was afraid to. Hotch was fighting inner demons, at least he should be. He had given up the fight, and was dying inside. He saw that Hotch was crying, and thought that he needed to just sit there and wait. Sooner or later the strong reliable man would come through. Reid sat back and picked up Aaron's PDA from the night stand. As he did so, it vibrated in his hand. It was the message from Jack.

Aaron didn't react to the sound of the phone vibrating. But he reacted to the sound of his little boy's voice.

'Jack!' he turned onto his back. 'Jacky?'

'He sent you a get well message, Hotch.' Reid played the message through. Aaron didn't move as he listened to it.

-0-0-0-

The message was played five or six times before Aaron said anything.

'Don't bring.... my s-son here.' he said. 'I cannot see him, not ever.'

Reid stood up so that he could see into Aaron's dark misty eyes.

'A lot of people love you, Hotch. You cannot give up on them. You are needed. You must fight this.'

'I can't g-give what I used to give. I am dirty and useless; there's nothing left of how I was. Nothing.'

He closed his eyes and turned away from Reid. Reid bent forwards and kissed his cheek.

'You are still Aaron Hotchner, father, Agent, Team Leader. That hasn't changed, only your perception of self has changed.'

Aaron turned his head back to Reid, and blinked away the tears. 'Will you help me, Spencer?'

'Of course I will!' Reid said. He leaned down to him and wrapped his arms around him, pressing his face against Aaron's neck. 'I won't let you slip away from me.'

They were interrupted by the door opening and a nurse entering.

'Oops.... sorry. I need to take Mr Hotchner's obs.'

Reid stood up and sat back down in the chair by the bed, embarrassed as being caught in the display of affection, but the nurse didn't say anything else as she took Aaron's temperature and blood pressure, and checked his drip.

'You're doing fine, Mr Hotchner.' she said, smiled at Reid, and left.

Reid had brought a book with him. It was called 'From Quark to Quasars' and he started to read it out loud to Aaron. Hotch just stared at the ceiling, unsure of what the hug had really meant.

-0-0-0-

The next day, Reid had physiotherapy, and Emily sat with Aaron. She told him the thing that had been playing on her mind.

'I love you, Hotch.'

There. She'd said it. And now she couldn't un say it.

Hotch turned to her and stared in surprise.

'You love me?' he repeated, thinking maybe he'd misheard her.

Emily looked down at her hands resting in her lap. She wanted to be holding Aaron's hand but she thought it better to wait for his reaction.

She nodded. 'I have for a long time.'

'Even after.....'

'Especially after....' she said. This time she did take her hand.

Aaron turned right round so that he could see her properly. His eyes were wide.

'Help me sit up, would you?''

Emily helped Aaron to lean forward, and pulled his pillows so that he could lean back on them. He winced at the gun shot wound pulled, and she touched his face gently.

'I'm sorry.' she said.

Aaron's lips moved as if to smile, when a sharp pain made him cry out. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and Emily carefully touched his hair with the backs of her fingers.

'Everything is going to turn out right, Aaron. Just you wait and see.

And she leaned across and kissed his mouth. He kissed her back and moved his hand to the back of her hair.

'Help me, Emily....'

She kissed him again, and put her finger across his lips.

'Of course I will help you, Aaron.'

She slipped off her shoes and got onto the bed beside him, leaning against the pillows with him. He turned to her, his eyes sparkling with an inner strength she infused to him.

'Thank you.' he whispered, 'But I don't think I can accept this.'

He took his hand away from hers and a single tear ran down his face. 'Please don't waste your time on me. None of you.'

He turned away, closing his eyes against the flood that threatened to pour down his face.

'The Aaron Hotchner you loved is gone, Emily. I cannot accept your love.' He turned onto his side, shocked at how easily he almost gave himself to her, this shell of a man with nothing to give.

'He is not gone.' Emily said. 'He is still there inside you. We want to help you draw him out. Let us help you.'

Emily was sitting on the side of the bed, her hands in her lap. She stared at them, wondering if she had made a mistake telling Aaron she loved him. She turned and looked at him, and stroked his back.

'I'll leave you to sleep now. Someone will come and see you tomorrow.'

She kissed the back of his head and left.


	14. Motivation

**Escalation  
**Chapter 14  
Motivation

_**Diana Reid once said, 'Never let a chance pass you by.'**_

When he knew that there was no one to hear him, Aaron scrunched the pillow against his face and wept. He cried for the love he had lost, cried for the old Hotch who he thought was never coming back, cried in self pity and self loathing. The pillow was wet with tears by the time he was cried out, and his breath came in harsh hitching sobs.

When the nurse came to do his obs again, she stroked his forehead.

'It will come back.' she said. 'You feel now that your world has ended, but it hasn't. The world goes on, and you are still part of it. I promise that soon all the evil you have suffered will just be a memory, and you will heal.'

He looked at her with dark misty eyes. 'How can you know?' he said.

'I know because it happened to me. I was raped, and I took an overdose. I thought my life had ended. But it was just another experience that I can use to help people. Think of it that way, Aaron. I can empathise with you only because of what happened to me. I promise, life will go on. You just have to let go of the past.'

She smiled at him and touched him again. 'I'll get you a dry pillow.' she said, and left the ward.

Her words echoed through his head as he thought about what she had said. Without her experience, she wouldn't be able to help him. Maybe there was someone out there whom he could help one day.

He bit down on his knuckle as she came back with a dry pillow.

'Thank you.' he said as she put the pillow behind him. 'And thank you for your encouragement. But please, tell me, how did you get through it?'

'I had some good and wonderful friends.' she answered. 'If you need me, I'll be around.' She gave him a smile, and left him alone.

-0-0-0-

'We can't really understand what you have been through, Aaron. We can only imagine it. But we want to help you. We miss you, and want you back.'

Dave was sitting with Hotch today. Somehow he looked less broken than he had looked three days ago. There was colour in his pale cheeks and the bruises did not stand out so much. Dave grasped at the chance that he was going to get better.

'I want to come back, Dave. I want my old life back, but I'm not sure if it is going to be possible. What they did to me could leave me with a permanent disability, mentally and physically.'

'We will fight it, Hotch. Together we'll get through this. Your friends are very special people.'

'I know.' Aaron sighed.

Dave smiled at him, and produced a pack of cards. 'Hows about a game?'

Aaron smiled back and nodded, shifting himself painfully into another position, he picked up the hand he had been dealt. He suddenly realised what Dave was saying to him.

_Play the cards you've been dealt, Aaron........_

Just like the nurse had said, he had to use what he had experienced to make him a better person.

He wasn't sure that he could do that, but it was a target to aim for. And if he missed, he could try again.

He began to play the hand.

-0-0-0-

Spencer was watching through the window. He knew that he had said too much, and was embarrassed, wondering what Aaron would say to him when he saw him again. He knew Aaron could never return his love, but the reality couldn't be undone. He took a breath and went in the room.

'Deal me in?'

Rossi smiled that lop sided smile, that knowing smile, and dealt Reid a hand.

'Where would you rather sit – on the bed or on the chair?'

Reid looked longingly at the bed.

'The chair please.' he said.

Dave moved from the chair and perched on the edge of the bed, and they continued the game.

-0-0-0-

Emily had hoped that her declaration of love would help Aaron have something to fight for, but now she regretted it. In her wildest dreams, Aaron returned that love. But this was real life, and Aaron had been deeply injured. Her saying that she loved him may just confuse him.

She paced the room of the cheap hotel that the BAU were paying for. It was a temporary arrangement, and Emily took full advantage of it. She longed to go and visit Aaron. She longed to touch him, but he had rejected her and she wasn't sure how to react. She had confused the poor man when he most of all needed stability – something to hang onto, not something to drown him.

Her mother had taught her to compartmentalise, and she could name emotions in the people she profiled, but this was happening to her, and the flood of love had washed the walls away that she had so carefully built. This ridiculous, all encompassing feeling had left her exhausted.

She went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, as if she could wash it all away. The hot needles of water burned into her and it felt good. She shampooed her hair and thought about Aaron as the soap washed away. She tried to put herself in Aaron's place. He had been beaten and seriously abused, the man who was their leader, who had given up everything to become the best leader possible.

She couldn't do it. The place Hotch filled was only for him. She suddenly realised that with all her training, she couldn't empathise.

That , she thought was a huge failing. She got out of the shower and dried herself. She needed to be close to Hotch now. She needed him, whether he needed her or not.

She dressed in a neat skirt suit, and got ready to visit the hospital.

-0-0-0-

They were playing a simple game of bluff, and Reid was hopeless. His face gave everything away, and Dave started to laugh.

'It's a good job you're on our side, Spencer. You'd make a lousy crook!'

Reid pretended to sulk. 'I shan't play then.'

Hotch smiled, and for the first time in weeks, the smile touched his eyes. 'You are pretty useless at this game.' Hotch said. The corners of Reid's mouth dropped, and Hotch actually laughed, clutching at his chest.

'Please don't make me laugh. It hurts.'

Dave pulled all the cards together.

'Maybe that's enough for today.' he said. 'Aaron, get some sleep.'

Hotch laid down on the pillows and closed his eyes.

'Good idea.'

Reid and Dave left together, and met Emily in the corridor.

'We made him laugh.' Reid said happily.

Emily smiled. Reid was more concerned with Hotch than his own brush with death, and his subsequent injury.

'How's the foot, Reid?' she asked.

Reid looked down at it. It was bandaged at the moment, but physio was going well, and he expected to go back to work.

'It's fine.' he said. 'I can almost walk on it now.'

Emily smiled briefly at him.

'I'll go sit with him while he sleeps.' she said. Rossi nodded knowingly. Reid frowned.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was dreaming. No matter what happened, his dreams were still nightmares, haunted by the things that had happened to him. The beatings and the rapes were real again, and he was still a prisoner in that awful place. He cried out loud in his dream as an unknown creature held him and abused him.

Emily took his hand in hers.

'It's ok, Hotch. It's just a dream. I'm here for you.'

The words penetrated the darkness, and he forced open his eyes and looked at her.

'Emily!' he gasped, holding her hand tightly.

'The dreams aren't real, Hotch. This is reality.' She touched his hair, brushing it gently off his face.

'Emily......'

'Shh.... don't say anything. I just wanted to say...... 'Emily paused. 'I wanted to say that I'm sorry that I added to your pressure by what I said. I know I can't unsay it, but please, let us be friends and colleagues.'

'Emily......' He reached out for her and took his hands. 'Thank you Emily. Please don't feel bad.'

'Can we pretend it didn't happen?'

'Emily, I don't think I can.'

He winced as he tried to sit up. She moved his pillows so that he was more comfortable. She had her hands on either side of him, leaning across the bed, and as he closed his eyes against the pain, she leaned forwards and kissed him gently and briefly on the lips. He didn't kiss her back, but neither did he move away.

'Sorry.' she whispered. 'That was unprofessional.'

Aaron held her face with his hands.

'Emily, never say you are sorry for loving me. I feel humbled and blessed.'

He softly pushed his fingers into her hair and drew her close to him, and kissed her softly on her mouth. She kissed him back and held him. He pressed his face into her sweet smelling hair and kissed her neck.

She closed her eyes and sighed. This was not what she expected. Dreams didn't come true like this.

-0-0-0-

Reid and David were drinking coffee in the restaurant. Reid was quiet.

'What is it, Reid? You're going to be OK you know. And Hotch will recover. It just takes time with these things.'

'Rossi, I'm not concerned about myself,' He paused, almost too embarrassed to go on. 'except that it could take me away from Aaron.'

'I know that you are in love with him, Spencer.' he said. Reid looked surprised. 'I am an experienced profiler. I see it in your eyes every time Hotch comes into the room.' He reached out and put his hand on his arm. 'Just be there for him, Reid. That's all I think he could take at the moment. When he is well again, who knows.' He gave Reid a little squeeze. 'Just not now though.'

'I understand, Rossi. Who else knows?'

'Don't worry about that. Just get yourself better, and get back to work.' Dave stood up. 'I'm going back to the hotel now. You coming?'

'I'll see you there, Rossi. I want to go and say good night to Hotch.'

The two men walked to the door and parted company.

Reid made his way up to Hotch's ward. He was not in intensive care any more, but had been moved now to a small side ward where he could have some privacy. Reid thought that he would like to stay the night in the room with Hotch. He wouldn't touch him, except maybe hold his hand. He longed to tell him how he loved him, How he would give anything to see him well and happy again.

When Haley had hurt him so badly, he had been torn emotionally. He had wanted to rejoice that he was no longer trapped with a woman who couldn't love him, but the haunted look in his eyes didn't go away now. At least he used to have his home life to buffer the horrors of his job. It broke Reid up to see his daily distress.

But it left the way open for him to tell Hotch that he loved him.

Except he never had.

He had no idea why he had been so reticent about it, but the time had never seemed right. His Mum had said that the time never will be right, so go for it. But he got tongue tied and he blushed stupidly every time he tried. So he had given up, and hoped that Hotch would see it in his eyes.

Rossi had.

As soon as Hotch was better, he would try to tell him.

The blind was slightly open, and he looked through to the man he loved so much.

What he saw broke his heart. His chance was gone and he was going to have to let him go.

Not that he ever had him, but the future he imagined was possible disintegrated before his eyes, and he slid down the wall and felt hot sad tears fall from his eyes.

END – story will be continued in my next fic.


End file.
